 |
HavenWorks.com/people/a-z/m/mccain-john-sidney-III/weblog |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
 |
 |
|
 __John
McCain News |
 |
 |
VIDEO: "[John McCain's new position on Afghanistan is what Obama's position has been for 11 months.]" -TPMtv [Richard Clarke explains that the Republican Bush adminstration "has followed his [Barack Obama's military strategy] advice on four occasions."]
VIDEO [humor]: "John McCain campaign ad on biggest enemy - Jimmy Kimmel Live."
VIDEO: "[McCain Flip Flops on Afghanistan.]" ... [McCain flips on Afghanistan military policy with claims that three brigades will go in, the media misses the flip-flop, ignores the fact that there aren't three American brigades available for McCain's new flip-flop military strategy, and media ignores the fact that the military strategy was first advocated by Barack Obama 11 months ago.] VIDEO: "McCain Butchers Foreign Affairs." ... "John McCain, "The Foreign Affairs Expert" Stumbled through his pre-prapared lines, on the campaign trail. Mistaking Russia's ex President Putin with Germany's Merkel, Somalia with Sudan, pre surge troop levels in Iraq with the real troop levels in Iraq, Al Qaeda with Iran backed extremists and made 3 references to Czechoslovakia which doesn't exist." -Wehadrons VIDEO: "McDumb As Bush." ... "Can we afford another president who thinks it's smart to be dumb?"
McCain Media BaseVIDEO: "McCain And The Media." [Apparently McCain's media agents offended even Fox Republican Propaganda interviewers by insisting that they "look at the shot," to which McCain's media agent responded that while she worked at "the White House for seven years" they looked at ALL of the media's video shots. So McCain's media agents explanation that she's enabled to control the media's video shot is that the "White House" controlled the media's video shots for ALL of the White House video shots.]
VIDEO: "McCain "Forgets" Reagan's Arms-for-Hostages Deal With Iran." -JedReport [Under Republican President Reagan, military equipment was given to the terrorist regime of Iran. Reagan claimed he didn't know anything about it.] VIDEO: "[McCain refers to Czechoslovakia's current difficulties with Russia. Czechoslovakia hasn't existed as a country for 15 years]." ... [McCain's made the Czechoslovakia error repeatedly. Czechoslovakia has been two countries: the Czech Republic and Slovakia since January 1st, 1993.] VIDEO: "[McCain on Birth Control] Simple Choice." ... [When McCain was asked, "Health insurance companies cover Viagra but not birth control. Do you have an opinion on that?" A clearly uncomfortable McCain responded, "I don't know enough about it to give you a informed answer."] Original VIDEO: "McCain Out of Touch on Birth Control: Planned Parenthood Action Fund TV Ad." ... "John McCain is out of touch when it comes to women's health care. Birth control is basic health care for women. But, John McCain ducked a straightforward question about whether he thinks insurance companies should cover birth control, like they do Viagra." -PPVotes VIDEO: "John McCain: I graduated fifth from the bottom of my class." ... "That's 894th of 899. No wonder he can't work a computer." -Jed Report VIDEO [completely inappropriate satire NSFW]: "New Yorker Cover of John McCain." ... "This video is a satire. Like the New Yorker satirized prejudices against Obama, this is meant to show how ridiculous it is to think John McCain and George Bush are in love. It demonstrates how wrong it is to think just because they agree on essentialy every policy, that they are actually lovers." NSFW: PHOTO, Bush, McCain.
[2008 July 13th, Meet the Press]
"Carly Fiorina: "But to say that John McCain was aligned with President
Bush on the prosecution of the war in Iraq is to change history.""
"TEXT: Oh Really?"
[2003
April 23rd, Hardball]
"QUESTION: Are you proud of the work and the leadership of the Commander
in Chief in this war?"
"MCCAIN: Yes I am. I think the President has
led with great clarity and I think he's done a great job leading the country."
[2004
May 12th, Hannity & Colmes]
"QUESTION: Is it your view that Donald Rumsfeld can continue to
be an effective Secretary of Defense?"
"MCCAIN: Yes, today I do and I believe he's
done a fine job. He's an honorable man."
[2005
June 29th, CBS Early Show]
"MCCAIN: We've got to stay the course and
speeches like the President's last night, I think, are important."
VIDEO [satire]: "It's 3AM, and John McCain needs to read an e-mail." ... "There's always room for a new 3AM spoof. This time, the nation's security is put at risk because John McCain doesn't know how to read his email. " -Jed Report
VIDEO: "More Lies About Viet Nam From McCain's Double Talk Express." [McCain's military service was honorable, McCain's exploitation of his military service has become completely dishonorable.] VIDEO: "John McCain's Swiftboating Surrogate." ... "Col. Bud Day attacked John Kerry's service in 2004. In 2004, he's attacking Wesley Clark -- and Clark's military service." -Olbermann via -Jed Report More on: BUD DAY, McCain's swiftboat surrogate
McCain Economics, McCain MoneyVIDEO: "[McCain's economics advisor] Phil Gramm: [America in a] "Mental Recession... Nation of Whiners"." ... "Phil Gramm in interview with the Washington Times, July 9, 2008." -TPMtv VIDEO: "Can't Get Enough." ... "John McCain and Phil Gramm: can't get enough of your love, babe. " -TPMtv
VIDEO: "John McCain: Your Economic Problems Are Psychological." ... "McCain says he disagrees with Phil Gramm's statement that America is in a "mental recession" -- but the video record tells a different story." -Jed Report VIDEO: "John McCain Does Not Understand How Social Security Works." -Cenk Uygur [The $100 MILLIONAIRE McCain receives $58,000 in tax free government welfare money a yearbecause, while he's "healthy" enough to run for the demanding job of President, he's still 100% disabled. Sounds like a welfare scam, but no, Republican welfare queens and kings are magically different from the usual caricature of "welfare queens".]
McCain Military Judgement, McCain Healthcare, McCain Money, McCain FalsehoodVIDEO: "Jim Hudson Takes On John McCain - Countdown [McCain tells falsehoods (lies) to Veteran]." ... "Colorado Vietnam veteran Jim Hudson takes on John McCain over veteran's issues. As shown on MSNBC's Countdown July 9, 2008." -McCain video
[McCain appears to clearly and repeatedly lie in this video, but that assumes McCain knows that what he's saying is false, perhaps McCain doesn't know what he's saying is false. So, as long as McCain shelters himself from facts McCain can continue to tell falsehoods. For the record, denying reality is a REALLY BAD military strategy.]
VIDEO: "TPMtv: McCain's Absolute Disgrace." ... "Fresh from the airwaves, we hit the video vault to find out just why John McCain believes Social Security is an "absolute disgrace" (including special new debamboozling video to help you not be spun by the McCain camp's damage control). " -Josh Marshall VIDEO: "John McCain on Social Security: "It's An Absolute Disgrace"." -McCain video
McCain Military Judgement, McCain Falsehood, McCain Flip FlopVIDEO: "When?" ... "When Will John McCain Bring Our Troops Home? Depends on When You Ask." QUESTIONS: "Over a course of how many years?""Not Important?" ... "Senator McCain, It's Important to the American People." ... "John McCain: More of the Same on Iraq " -Youtube video
MCCAIN: "Four or five years." [ABC, "Nightline," 10/1/03]
[2007 [McCain Iraq exit date prediction.]]MCCAIN: "Listen, my friend, we're going to be there for five or six years." [MSNBC, "Hardball," 2/25/04]
[2010 [McCain Iraq exit date prediction.]]MCCAIN: "If I had to guess, I would think that it's going to be at least another year to a year and a half..." [CBS, "The Early Show," 2/3/05]
[2006 [McCain Iraq exit date prediction.]]MCCAIN: "I'd rather say two or three years, and be surprised a year from now." [NBC, "Meet the Press," 6/19/05]
[2008 [McCain Iraq exit date prediction.]]QUESTION: President Bush is talking about our staying in Iraq for 50 year..."
MCCAIN: "Maybe a hundred." [Town Hall Meeting in Concord, NH, 1/3/08]
[2108 [McCain Iraq exit date prediction.]]MCCAIN: "By January 2013, America has welcomed home most of the servicemen and women who have sacrificed terribly"" [Reuters, 5/15/08]
[2013 [McCain Iraq exit date prediction.]]QUESTION: "Do you know have a better estimate of when American forces can come home from Iraq?"
MCCAIN: "No, but that's not too important." [NBC, "Today Show," 6/11/08]
[? [McCain Iraq exit date prediction.]]
McCain Military Judgement, McCain Media BaseVIDEO: "McCain "Jokes" About Killing Iranians." [In the background is Karen Tumulty of Time Magazine laughing at McCain's "joke" about killing Iranians. More importantly, McCain didn't know about American exports to Iran.]
VIDEO: "Ousted "McCain=Bush" Librarian on Olbermann." ... "Rachel Maddow: Freedom of speech and the right to assemble -- perhaps in the eye of the overzealous beholder when it comes to John McCain's campaign staff. Our third story on the Countdown -- While Mister McCain was delivering quote, straight talk, at one of his open-forum town hall meetings in Denver yesterday, things were getting closed down just outside. " -Rachel Maddow via Caltrider
VIDEO: "John McCain Kicks Librarian Out of Town Hall Event." ... "On orders from Senator John McCain's security detail, Denver police escorted a 61-year-old woman away who was waiting in line to attend a so-called town hall meeting with McCain that was billed as open to the public." -McCain video
[Apparently the Secret Service believed the 61 year old librarian's sign that said "McCain = Bush" was a threat to Republican McCain.]
VIDEO: "McCain admits offshore oil drilling benefits 'psychological'." - Better quality video. -McCain Video Search Youtube: <McCain "psychological benefit"> VIDEO: ""John McCain is Aware of the Internet"." -McCain Video VIDEO: "McCain [Gay] Pride Message." -McCain video [Twice married McCain believes in the "sanctity and unique status of marriage between man and woman" and then later another woman and if you're Republicans Newt Gingrich or Rudy Giuliani another woman after that, because serial polygamy has been a Republican family value going back to Ronald Reagan....]
VIDEO: "McCain "Really Didn't Love America" Until He Was a POW." -BraveNewFilms
VIDEO: "McCain Lies About Social Security Privatization." ... "In March, after ThinkProgress caught Sen. Joe Lieberman lying to cover up Sen. John McCain's support for Social Security privatization, I posted video (with the help of reader Tom M.) from 2004 of McCain, in response to an audience question, explicitly backing Social Security privatization by name." ""Q: Will privatizing Social Security be a priority for you going forward?"
...
"McCAIN: Without privatization, I don't see how you can possibly, over time, make sure that young Americans are able to receive Social Security benefits.""-Bill Scher
McCain Falsehood, McCain Flip FlopVIDEO: "John McCain on Privatizing Social Secuirty." -McCain Video
McCain Military Judgement, McCain Falsehood,McCain Flip FlopVIDEO: "Olbermann Special Comment McCain on Troops Coming Home pt.1." McCain Video [the full context: McCain helped Bush lie US into the Iraq War... repeatedly.]
McCain Flip Flop, McCain FalsehoodVIDEO: "John McCain on Privatizing Social Secuirty." McCain Video ""But I'm not for quote privatizing Social Security, I never have been, I never will be." [New Hampshire Town Hall, 06/12/08]"[McCain:] ""Without privatization, I don't see how you can possibly, over time, make sure that young Americans are able to receive Social Security benefits." [red boldface emphasis added] [C-Span Road to the White House, 11/18/2004]"
McCain ReligionVIDEO: "[McCain possible Vice President choice, Louisiana Republican Bobby Jindal, performed a bizarre exorcism that sounds like a kidnapping combined with physical and verbal harassment.]" -TPMtv
McCain Media Base, McCain Falsehood"McCain Stacks Fox News 'Town Hall' With Supporters." ... "... McCain's campaign misled the public about the nature of the event. The forum was "billed by the McCain campaign as a town hall with independent and Democratic voters," but Fox News noted at the end that the audience was actually "made up of invited guests and supporters," ... " ... "DNC Chairman Howard Dean issued the following statement:" ""Once again John McCain's campaign is trying to mislead the American people. Senator McCain should understand that after seven years of a President who has divided Americans and pursued a scorched earth policy full of misleading propaganda campaigns, we need a leader who understands he is the President for all Americans not just his supporters. Copying the Bush campaign model of stacking events with his prescreened supporters is not the transparency Americans are looking for. If that is Senator McCain's idea of straight talk, the American people are in for a long and disappointing campaign season.""-HuffingtonPost
"McCain to Cut Defense Spending?" ... "If true, this would be a much bigger bombshell that McCain's remarks on Iraq withdrawal." ... "Obama should jump all over this, and argue that if we are going to cut defense spending, it should not be to pay for a corporate tax break, but instead to invest in American infrastructure, health care, and a new energy economy. He should also argue that McCain won't actually cut defense spending, because his refusal to withdraw from Iraq would make a reduction in defense spending impossible." -Chris Bowers VIDEO: "Not Too Important." McCain video "QUESTION: "President Bush has talked about our staying in Iraq for 50 years...""
"MCCAIN: "Maybe a hundred." [Town Hall Meeting, Derry, NH, 1/3/08]"
"BRIAN WILLIAMS: "Given your support for the surge and wear you believe this nation is in Iraq today, where do you see it going and will your support be there for however many troops are required?""MCCAIN: "Yes." [NBC Evening News, 6/10/08]"
"MATT LAUER: "Do you now have a better estimate for when American forces can come home from Iraq?"""MCCAIN: "No, but that's not too important." [Today Show, 6/11/08]"
"Pop-up Double-Talk, Episode 3: Just Like Bush." -DoubleTalkExpress -http://mccainsource.com/
VIDEO: "McCain calls swiftboating group a "wonderful organization"." ... "Vets for Freedom is a swiftboating political committee like the ones they used against John Kerry in 2004." ... "And not only are two of John McCain's campaign co-chairmen on its board of advisors, but McCain calls the group a "wonderful organization."" -JedReport
VIDEO: "Senator Durbin Calls Out Sen Graham on Illegal 527 Activity." ... "Dick Durbin calls out Lindsey Graham for his work with a 527 group, who released an attack ad against Obama last week, while also being a chairman of McCain's campaign. This just happens to be illegal." ... "All of the details are here in StevenR's report of the criminal activity by McCain's campaign:" -Youtube user "McCain Message Coordination w/ Anti-Obama VFF." ... "" -Steven R
[ JOHN McCAIN, THE LOBBYIST KING whose campaign is run by lobbyists (lobbyists who have even used McCain's misnamed "straight-talk" bus as a lobbying office), has let a couple of his corporate money men go after their connections with the repressive Myanmar (Burma) military regime was discovered. The job of McCain's lobbyist campaigners was to rehabilitate the Myanmar military thug's image, in other words, create effective fictions and illusions that soften their malignant client's image.
McCain's agents of intolerance alliances has also been reduced. After McCain's endorser John Hagee's comments about Hitler being sent by God to hunt Jews was revealed he was let off the bus. Curiously Hagee's comments about Catholicism being a cult and a whore religion hadn't been enough to let him off the bus.
McCain also let Rod Parsley off the bus after some of Parsley's militant extremist statements attacking the Islamic religion were revealed. In one of McCain's "spiritual guide" Parley's more unhinged sermons Parsley screamed, "We get off on warfare!"
McCain's effective securement of the Republican nomination apparently no longer needs militant right-wing extremists to attack Catholics, Jews, and Muslims. Now he needs his image as a "maverick" rehabilitated so he can again appear as a moderate.
He has enough lobbyists still running his campaign to do the job.]
"John McCain Says He Can Save $100 Billion In Earmarks; [The CONSERVATIVE] Heritage Foundation Analyst Says He Is Exaggerating By 1000%." -Cliff Schecter "McCain Willing To Grant Telecoms Immunity After They Say They’re Sorry." -ThinkProgress.org VIDEO: "John McCain Faces off with Ellen Degeneres [on gay marriage. Note how McBlinky has a hard time looking Ellen in the eyes]." VIDEO: "[McCain in 2000:] ""... by 2008, I think I might be ready to go down to the old soldiers home and await the cavalry charge there."" -PBS NewsHour via CrooksandLiars.com
McCain Health"AP: McCain Had Cancer Surgery THIS YEAR, Didn't Tell Anyone." ... "It is also noteworthy that the McCain campaign has refused to release his psychiatric records. If anything, I'm more worried about McCain's mental state than his physical health. Yet apparently McCain has not had a psychiatric evaluation since 1994 and has no interest in filling us in further." ... "Let me state up front -- this has nothing to do with whether he is mentally unbalanced from his POW days. I know Republicans tossed around such charges in 2000 in order to get Bush elected, and I just don't buy that. But with McCain confusing Sunnis and Shiites, when he forgets all about Iran-Contra, when he thinks Putin is the President of Germany, when he starts bringing up the long since disbanded "League of Nations", and when he responds to political attacks with long-winded rants, then voters have a right to know if this senior politician really has his full mental capacity." ... "John McCain needs to release all of his medical records. If he is lying about the cancer that he had three months ago, what else is he lying about?" ... "[Update] Let me make it clear, folks. The fact that he has this minor form of skin cancer is not the issue. The issue is that he had cancer surgery and didn't tell anybody. This, combined with the shady way in which they are disclosing a portion of his medical records to hand-picked reporters, does not inspire confidence in the truth-telling ability of the McCain campaign." -Existenz
"People who have nothing to hide don’t act like they have something to hide." ... "After months of delays, a handful of carefully-selected reporters will have access this morning to 400 pages of John McCain’s medical records. By all appearances, the McCain campaign is rather panicky about what journalists might find, and have gone to almost comical lengths to make this process as ridiculous as humanly possible." ... "At the outset, let’s not brush too quickly past the series of delays. A year ago, reporters began asking for access to the records. At the time, the campaign said the release of the materials would come in a matter of weeks. It didn’t. Then, McCain aides said they’d release the information in March. Then, without explanation, they changed the date to April. Then, again without explanation, they changed the date to May. (I wasn’t inclined to be suspicious about this until McCain started acting suspiciously.)" -Steve Benen
"McCain "Releases" His Medical Records." ... "This is absurd. Release all of it online. When a man is a cancer and torture survivor at 71, the health question is sadly relevant. I wouldn't want this for almost anyone else - but he's running for president of the US. You give up your medical privacy under those conditions. And any attempt to conceal anything will only fuel worries, not allay them." -Andrew Sullivan "Is John McCain As Healthy As The Media Are Saying?" ... "Today McCain released his medical records to a handpicked group of reporters who had a whole three hours to look through them. Well, it turns out that he had a cancer surgery in February and neglected to tell anyone." "McCain's most recent exams show a range of health issues common in aging: He frequently has precancerous skin lesions removed, and in February had an early stage squamous cell carcinoma, an easily cured skin cancer, removed. He had benign colon growths called polyps taken out during a routine colonoscopy in March."
" -Cliff Schecter
McCain Flip Flop"McCain reverses course on immigration reform (again), drawing far-right rebuke." ... "When John McCain’s presidential campaign faltered badly last summer, there were a variety of problems, but near the top of the list was McCain’s work on a comprehensive immigration reform measure, which most Republican activists hated with a vengeance. McCain ultimately decided to abandon his own legislation, and announced earlier this year that he wouldn’t even vote for his own bill." ... "Now that he’s locked down the Republican nomination, McCain has decided to reverse course again, re-embracing the position he abandoned in order to gain GOP support." -Steve Benen
VIDEO: "McCain: A Respectful Disagreement?" ... "On Ellen Degeneres' show John McCain said he has a respectful disagreement with her over the issue of gay marriage. But two of his supporters, John Hagee and Rod Parsley (whom McCain has referred to as a "spiritual advisor"), are two of the most outspoken agents of intolerance in America, spouting vicious homophobic rants on a weekly basis. And make no mistake: McCain actively sought their endorsements." ... "John McCain's embrace of these men does not indicate a "respectful disagreement."" -DoubleTalkExpress -http://mccainsource.com/
"McCain to rely on Rove protege for opposition research." ... "Griffin’s name may sound familiar. First, Griffin was a key player in the White House’s U.S. Attorney purge scandal. Second, remember “vote caging”? Griffin sure does." ... "Greg Sargent has more, including a reminder of Griffin digging up old footage that wound up in an ad by the Swift Boat Vets." -Steve Benen "McCain Set To Release Medical Records Under Shady Circumstances." -CrooksAndLiars.com
"McCain health-records document dump." ... "McCain wasn't in the best of health even before he was diagnosed with cancer in 2000, and in any case he's now 71 years old. Americans understandably are concerned about McCain's age and fitness for the office. Nevertheless McCain has delayed the release of his health records for more than a year, all the while promising to release them but claiming absurdly enough that the delays were caused by his doctors." ... "When does he finally release the records? On the Friday before Memorial Day. His own aides seem to admit that the timing is meant to ensure the least possible news coverage of McCain's health."[McCain's health records "release" rules:]
" -Smintheus- "only a small, select group of reporters will have access to the records in a secure room in Phoenix, AZ"
- "access is limited to only three hours, between 7 and 10 AM on Friday"
- "no copying of the records is permitted"
VIDEO: "Ellen DeGeneres Confronts McCain On Gay Marriage: “It just feels like there’s this old way of thinking that we are not all the same. We are all the same people. All of us. You are no different than I am.”" -CrooksAndLiars.com
VIDEO/AUDIO: [McCain SOUGHT HAGEE's endorsement. Hagee claimed of the Holocaust that God sent Hitler to hunt Jews, "Then god sent a hunter. A hunter is someone who comes with a gun and he forces you. Hitler was a hunter." ... "How did it [the Holocaust] happen? Because God allowed it to happen." ... "They [Jews] are physically alive but they're not spiritually alive."]
VIDEO: "VoteVets.org Ad on McCain / GI Bill." ... "VoteVets.org's veterans implore Senator McCain to support our troops and veterans, by voting for the bi-partisan Webb-Hagel GI Bill." -VoteVets.org VIDEO: "McCain Gets Basic Iran Fact Wrong." [McCain falsely and ignorantly insisted that Ahmadinejad is Iran's "leader" when in fact the real "leader" in Iran is Ali Khamenei. Ali Khamenei has absolute control over the military, NOT Ahmadinejad. The comment by McCain shows profound and dangerous ignorance about Iran, particularly as McCain's belligerent militarism is insisting that Iran, without a nuclear weapon, is somehow as dangerous as the Soviet Union, which had a tremendous number of nuclear weapons. The CIA factbook, had McCain read it, clearly states that Iran's: "chief of state: [is] Supreme Leader Ali Hoseini-KHAMENEI (since 4 June 1989) [... and that Iran's] head of government: [is] President Mahmud AHMADI-NEJAD (since 3 August 2005)." While Iran's head's of government come and go, the chief of state, the Supreme Leader, is a lifetime position. McCain's ignorance on who is in charge of Iran combined with McCain's ignorance of the difference between Shia and Sunni combined with his reckless jokes about bombing Iran along with his anger management problems is a volatile and dangerous combination.] [[Below is a transcript from the] CNN Live Feed, Press Conference (Savannah, GA), 5/19/08]From PBS NewsHour's "Governing Iran" ... "The supreme leader is Iran's top decision-maker, and has final say in all matters of state. According to Iran's constitution, the supreme leader is responsible for supervising the "general policies of the Islamic Republic of Iran" and directs all the country's foreign and domestic policy. The supreme leader also controls the military and Iran's intelligence operations. He alone has the power to declare war. He also appoints leaders of the judiciary, the state media, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and six of the 12 members of the Council of Guardians, a powerful oversight committee.""QUESTION: I've done some research, and um -"
"MCCAIN: I have too."
"QUESTION: Also checked, also checked with the Obama campaign and he never, he's never sai -- mentioned Ahmadinejad directly by name. He did say he would negotiate with the leaders, but as you know - Ayatollah,"
"MCCAIN: (Laughing) Ahmadinejad is, was the leader."
"QUESTION: But if -"
"MCCAIN: Maybe I'm mistaken."
"QUESTION: Maybe you are, because -"
"MCCAIN: Maybe. I don't think so though."
"QUESTION: The Supreme, you know, according to most diplomatic experts, the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei is the guy who's in charge of Iranian foreign policy and also in charge of the nuclear program, but you never mention him. Do you, you know, um, why do you always keep talking about Ahmadinejad since he doesn't have power in that, in that realm?"
"MCCAIN: Oh I thin-Again, I respectfully disagree. When he's the person that comes to the United Nations and declares his country's policy is the extermination of the state of Israel, quote, in his words, wipe them off of the map, then I know that he is speaking for the Iranian government and articulating their policy and he was elected and is running for reelection as the leader of that country. Yes sir, go ahead."
"NEW QUESTION: One more quest-"
"MCCAIN: I mean, the fact is he's the acknowledged leader of that country and you may disagree, but that's a uh, that's your right to do so, but I think if you asked any average American who the leader of Iran is, I think they'd know. Go ahead. Or anyone who's well-versed in the issue."
VIDEO: "McCain's YouTube Problem Just Became a Nightmare." [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate John McCain] [John McCain] "According to Cliff Schecter, author of The Real McCain: Why Conservatives Don't Trust Him And Why Independents Shouldn't: "It is dangerous for a democracy when a presidential candidate can lie with impunity, change positions on a whim, and physically and verbally threaten others and virtually none of it is reported by a besotted media eagerly awaiting the next moment when he might slap their backs in friendship." -TheRealMcCain.com -BraveNewFilms.org
[YouTube Video]
VIDEO: "Obama takes on McCain/Bush." ... "Speaking before an audience in Watertown, South Dakota, Barack Obama responded to President Bush's extreme attacks yesterday." -Barack Obama VIDEO: "Obama: "Anywhere, Anytime" to Debate McCain on For. Policy." -Veracifier VIDEO: "McCain on Hamas in 2006: Going to Have to Deal With Them." -Veracifier
McCain Money Lobbyists, McCain Money"McCain's Lobbyist Scandals Prompt Additional Scrutiny." -HuffingtonPost
McCain Environmental Record"Greenwashed McCain: All sides call it dirty." -EnergySmart
McCain ReligionVIDEO/AUDIO: "McCain Endorser Hagee: God Sent Hitler." ... "[John Hagee:] "[Jewish people] are physically alive but they're not spiritually alive."" -Audio of John Hagee
McCain Money, McCain Media Base"Does This Mean It’s Open Season On Cindy McCain?" ... "The Tennessee Republican Party is attacking Michelle Obama? Really? Yes, it’s true:" "(CNN) -- In a preview of the political onslaught Michelle Obama may face in the fall, the Tennessee Republican Party unveiled a Web video Thursday highlighting her comment that she was proud of America "for the first time in my adult life.""" ... I’m guessing this means it’s open season on candidates’ spouses, and Cindy McCain provides us with all sorts of rich material. There is of course her abject refusal to release her tax returns, even though the conservative pundits went after Teresa Heinz Kerry for the same thing in 2004 (yesterday, Joe Conason reminded us that The Weekly Standard called Teresa a "sugar mommy." " ... "There’s the private jet she allows her husband to use for campaign travel, a distinct financial advantage over the other candidates. And please note: when a Republican owns a private jet--even one who just gave a speech on climate change--it’s not elitist! Or hypocritical!" ... "But the best dirt on Mrs. McCain is the stuff the press has largely ignored. In fact, it seems Mrs. McCain may have a checkered past with the law. She’s admitted to past drug addiction, but it seems there’s a little more to the story than that. In 1994 The Phoenix New Times covered the story in Opiate For the Mrs. It’s a long, fascinating read. And it shows us what a lapdog press we’ve always had, long before the current crop of stenographers started panting at the feet of the Bush Administration." ... "Do read the whole thing--while it lasts. It may get yanked off the 'nets as the campaign heats up." ... "Here’s the short version: In the early ‘90s, Cindy McCain was addicted to prescription painkillers. She stole narcotics from the medical charity she led and used the names of the charity’s employees to get prescriptions--sometimes in quantities as large as 400 or 500 pills. When one of the organization’s directors grew suspicious that prescriptions were being written in his name, she had him fired. When he tried to sue for wrongful termination, the McCains intimidated him with false claims of extortion." ... "Cindy McCain never served a day in jail (or even rehab, it appears). There are even serious questions about her claims of having been given a pretrial diversion. In fact, the whole thing was just made to go away, thanks to husband John McCain’s good friend John Dowd, the same attorney who helped him escape serious repercussions for his role in the Keating Five scandal. Dowd got Cindy McCain out of hot water and a quickie PR campaign touting a feel-good story about sin and redemption put a nice happy spin on the whole affair. Sweet!" ... "Cindy McCain is a drug addict who supported her habit with narcotics theft. Our nation’s prisons are full of men and women who have done less. Yet because she is rich and powerful she gets off scott-free." -Southern Beale
[If the theft of narcotics by Cindy McCain in the name of her employees is true, Cindy McCain should also have been charged with identity theft. Had she not been a member of the elite rich and married to a powerful Senator that knows how to manipulate a complacent media she would have been in jail for both the drug theft and identity theft.]
McCAIN: "They're the government; sooner or later we are going to have to deal with them, one way or another, and I understand why this administration and previous administrations had such antipathy towards Hamas because of their dedication to violence and the things that they not only espouse but practice, so . . . but it's a new reality in the Middle East. I think the lesson is people want security and a decent life and decent future, that they want democracy. Fatah was not giving them that.""
"The Weird McCain-Dictator Connection." ... "John McCain has been forced to cut ties with two campaign staffers recently because of their ties to the military junta in Burma. The first, Doug Goodyear, was the man McCain had selected to run the 2008 Republican convention. Goodyear is the chief executive of DCI Group, a lobbying firm that was paid $348,000 in 2002 to improve the junta's image in America and to push the federal government to improve relations with the notorious human rights abusers. The second, Doug Davenport, was a regional campaign manager for McCain who helped found DCI Group and served as head of its lobbying practice, where he also worked for the junta." ... "This is a great example of (1) why lobbying is so freaking toxic, and (2) how, if you build your campaign machinery with lobbyists in dozens of key positions, you run into problems." ... "But the problem isn't just Dougs Goodyear and Davenport. The watchdog group Campaign Money Watch is now calling for three more McCain staffers to resign because of connections to distasteful foreign regimes:" "Charlie Black, whose lobbying firm represented human rights abusers like Philipines President Ferdinand Marcos, Zaire dictator Mobuto Sese Seko, Somalia's Mohamed Siad Barre and Nigeria’s Ibrahim Babangida, as well as foreign oil interests like the Chinese government's CNOOC. Black currently serves McCain as a spokesman and senior counsel;"
"We've reported on Black, a true super-lobbyist, before. Campaign Money Watch also calls out McCain for his connections to oil and gas, which undercut his claims of good environmental stewardship.""Tom Loeffler, whose firm has made more than $10 million since 2006 for lobbying for the Saudi Arabian monarchy and oil interests. Loeffler serves as McCain’s national finance chairman; and"
"Peter Madigan, a lobbyist whose firm received $800,000 to represent the United Arab Emirates in a class action suit over allegations that boys are enslaved and forced to be camel jockeys. He is also is a former lobbyist for Shell Oil. Madigan serves as a top fundraiser for McCain."
"The demand to fire the lobbyists comes as McCain gives a speech on environmental policy today. Oil and gas interests have donated $780,662 in campaign contributions to McCain’s candidate and leadership committees over his career, according to a Campaign Money Watch analysis of campaign finance data provided by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics." -Jonathan Stein
[See also: Charlie Black and Tom Loeffler]
VIDEO: "Harwood: McCain has benefitted from very friendly press." ... "... [John Harwood] said that the McCain campaign is already “trying to work the referees in advance” to argue that Obama gets more favorable media coverage than McCain." ... "But Harwood noted that some would find McCain’s strategy “ironic” because the press — whom according to Harwood were McCain’s “base” in 2000 — have been “very friendly” to McCain over the years:" "HARWOOD: Now John McCain has benefited from very friendly press coverage for many years, but he’s going to try to argue, which will have a corollary benefit of rally conservatives if he can pull it off, of saying the press wants Obama to win. I’m pushing back…"
" -Meet the Press via ThinkProgress"RUSSERT: In 2000, John McCain referred to the press as his base."
"HARWOOD: They were his base."
VIDEOS: [Where is the equivalent 24/7 media tv loop of McCain's bigoted militant extremist preachers Hagee and Parsley?]
McCain Money, McCain Media Base
"WSJ's Henninger called Cindy McCain's refusal to release tax returns "a fairly marginal issue," but WSJ urged Heinz Kerry to release hers: Summary: On Lou Dobbs Tonight, Wall Street Journal deputy editorial page editor Dan Henninger said of Cindy McCain's refusal to release her tax returns: "I think it's a fairly marginal issue." But in a July 2004 editorial, the Journal asserted that it was "past time" for Sen. John Kerry's wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, to release her tax returns, stating, "Their assets should be disclosed to the voters so that they can assess whether there are any potential conflicts of interest."" ... "The editorial's subheadline stated: "His divorce records are his own business. His wife's tax returns aren't." The Journal claimed: "The Kerrys would be the richest couple ever to live in the White House, and with wealth comes responsibility. Their assets should be disclosed to the voters so that they can assess whether there are any potential conflicts of interest." In calling on Heinz Kerry to release her tax returns, the Journal also cited the role Heinz Kerry's wealth purportedly played in her husband's presidential campaign. But Cindy McCain's personal fortune has reportedly played a role in the presidential campaign of her husband as well." -MediaMatters
VIDEO: "John McCain's Myanmar (Burma) Connection." -Youtube video
VIDEO: "Cindy McCain Refuses to Release Her Tax Returns." ... ""This is about transparency."" ... ""Trust but verify"" -CNN view Citizens for Ethics [Cindy McCain was invested with corrupt money man Charles Keating for whom John McCain crossed ethical lines to protect from a federal investigation. The larger question is whether Cindy McCain is invested in any of the other entities that John McCain has done questionable corporate/government special favors for: Don Diamond, Steven A. Betts or Fred Ruskin, Paxson, Cablevision, EADS, the purported Russian mobster, or the repressive totalitarian Myanmar government, and that's just the short list, the more good journalists investigate the more questionable associations they are finding.
It's also noteworthy that the tax cuts for the elite rich that once offended John McCain when it didn't matter (they went through despite his bark no bite objections), the same tax cuts McCain has now flip-flopped on now that it DOES matter have tremendously benefited his $100 MILLION wife's estimated fortune.]
VIDEO: "Cindy McCain Refuses to Release Her Tax Returns... Ever." -NBC via TPMtv http://www.google.com/search?q=Cindy+McCain+Keating "Obama lets McCain have it: McCain comments "offensive" and he is "losing his bearings"." -America Blog
McCain Religion, McCain Media BaseVIDEO: "[McCain's endorser] Pastor Hagee Blames Homosexuals For Katrina! AGAIN!" -Countdown
McCain Religion, McCain Military JudgementVIDEO: "McCain's "Spiritual Guide" [Rod Parsley] Wants America to Destroy Islam." [Comment at Digg.com] ... "You may have heard of Rev. John Hagee, the McCain supporter who said God created Hurricane Katrina to punish New Orleans for its homosexual "sins." Well now meet Rev. Rod Parsley, the televangelist megachurch pastor from Ohio who hates Islam. According to David Corn of Mother Jones, Parsley has called on Christians to wage war against Islam, which he considers to be a "false religion." In the past, Parsley has also railed against the separation of church and state, homosexuals, and abortion rights, comparing Planned Parenthood to Nazis." ... "John McCain actively sought and received Parsley's endorsement in the presidential race. McCain has called Parsley "a spiritual guide," and he hasn't said whether he shares Parsley's vicious anti-Islam views. That's because the mainstream media refuses to ask. And so, we've taken matters into our own hands, joining Mother Jones to present the truth about McCain's pastor." ... "Since the media won't question McCain about his deeply bigoted pastor, it's up to you to call attention to this issue. Make McCain's pastor problem a major story by forwarding this video to your family, friends, and colleagues." ... "We can't let McCain get away with aligning himself with a religious leader who's called for an all-out war on Islam, someone who draws no distinctions between Muslims and violent Islamic extremists. Now is the crucial time to act." -Robert Greenwald and Brave New Films [John McCain's "spritual guide," Reverend Rod Parsley is a militant extremist who has an unholy and un-Christian worldview. McCain's seeking out associations with bigoted extremists like Reverend John Hagee and "agents of intolerance" like Reverend Jerry Falwell shows a pattern of right-wing extremism by McCain that has been whitewashed by the main-stream media. McCain's alliances with Parsley, Hagee and the late Falwell are not the actions of a "moderate" and certainly not the actions of a "maverick" who in wiser days rightly condemned such extremists as "agents of intolerance." Shame on McCain for dishonorably betraying his purported principles and shame on the media for concealing McCain's associations with such extremists. If McCain doesn't want the label "warmonger" than he needs to stop associating with warmongers.] http://google.com/search?q=McCain+Hagee http://google.com/search?q=McCain+Parsley http://google.com/search?q=McCain+warmonger http://news.google.com/news?q=McCain+warmonger VIDEO: "[McCain's foreign policy from a paleo-conservative perspective.]" -GSuitter
VIDEO: "In 2003, McCain Claimed ‘Mission Accomplished’ In Iraq, Now Claims ‘I Thought It Was Wrong At The Time’." ... "... McCain himself used the term “mission accomplished” when talking about the Iraq war on at least two occasions in 2003:" [red emphasis added] "– “Their morale could not be higher. This is a mission accomplished. They know how much influence Saddam Hussein had on the Iraqi people, how much more difficult it made to get their cooperation.” [This Week, ABC, 12/14/03]"WATCH: ""Mission Accomplished" Anniversary, Senator McCain.""– During an appearance on Fox News, host Neil Cavuto said, “many argue the conflict isn’t over.” McCain answered, “Well, then why was there a banner that said mission accomplished on the aircraft carrier? Look, the — I have said a long time that reconstruction of Iraq would be a long, long, difficult process, but the conflict — the major conflict is over, the regime change has been accomplished.” [FOX, Your World With Neil Cavuto, 6/11/03]"
[McCain's Military Prior Judgements:]
"... a McCain presidency will actually be a “third Bush term.”" -ThinkProgress
[2003:]
"– “I believe that this conflict is still going to be relatively short.” [NBC, 3/30/03]""–- “It’s clear that the end is very much in sight.” [ABC, 4/9/03]"
[2005:]
"–- “I think the situation on the ground is going to improve,” he says. “I do think that progress is being made in a lot of Iraq. Overall, I think a year from now, we will have made a fair amount of progress if we stay the course. If I thought we weren’t making progress, I’d be despondent.” [The Hill, 12/8/05]"
[It's noteworthy that prior to those military misjudgements, McCain falsely claimed in 2002 that:][2002:]
"“Because I know that as successful as I believe we will be, and I believe that the success will be fairly easy, we will still lose some American young men or women.” [CNN, 9/24/02]""“We’re not going to get into house-to-house fighting in Baghdad. We may have to take out buildings, but we’re not going to have a bloodletting of trading American bodies for Iraqi bodies.” [CNN, 9/29/02]"
[2003 January 22nd:]
"“But the point is that, one, we will win this conflict. We will win it easily.” [MSNBC, 1/22/03]"
[FOUR YEARS INTO THE IRAQ OCCUPATION, From a 2006 December 25th Associated Press news article:]"In Baghdad, a Christmas patrol." ... "Christmas was another working day for many in the [American] battalion, heading out to cordon off a dangerous section of eastern Baghdad and go house to house searching for insurgents, weapons and bomb-making materials." -By Will Weissert -AP
McCain Language, McCain Temper"McCain Refuses to Answer a Town Hall Question." ... "A man stood and, referring to an anecdote in a new anti-McCain book, asked the Republican presidential candidate if he had actually used a crude epithet in addressing his wife." ... "The original questioner was referencing the recently released anti-McCain book, “The Real McCain,” by Cliff Schecter, who reports that McCain blew up at his wife, Cindy, in front of Arizona reporters during his 1992 re-election campaign to the Senate. Schecter, who chronicles a number of alleged events where McCain’s temper flared, wrote that McCain called his wife a “trollop” and another term, one of the crudest words used to refer to women." -Laura Meckler VIDEO: "Baptist Minister Asks McCain: "Did You Call Your Wife A [****]?"" -HuffingtonPost "Baptist minister nabbed by Secret Service and cops for asking McCain if it's true he called his wife a [****]." ... "... three reporters say McCain did call his wife the c-word. I think that's a character issue conservative Christians, and a lot of Americans, might just care about. It hardly deserves being picked up by the cops and the Secret Service." -America blog "Questioner booted for rude language says he's worried by McCain's temper." ... "Clive businessman Marty Parrish was escorted from Sen. John McCain's town hall meeting by Des Moines police and members of the Secret Service after asking McCain if he had called his wife Cindy an expletive in 1992." ... "Parrish, an ordained Baptist minister who holds a master's degree in political science, was questioned by Secret Service agents before being released. He was not charged in the incident. Parrish asked whether McCain called his wife Cindy an expletive related to the female anatomy, as has been alleged in the book "The Real McCain," written by Dem strategist Cliff Schecter." ... "McCain's response got him a round of applause from the crowd: "There's people here who don't respect that kind of language, so I'll move on to the next questioner in the back."" -Chris Dorsey [Instead of simply saying NO, McCain deftly avoided answering the question of whether he'd hurled profanities at his wife, which leads to the obvious conclusion that McCain did indeed use the offensive, disrespectful language towards his wife. That McCain would use such language towards his wife in his 50's, and reportedly in front of witnesses, suggests McCain has a severely uncontrollable temper
More importantly, while there have been numerous anecdotes of McCain's abusive language, McCain's temper has at times gone beyond profanity and included physical attacks.
McCain has reportedly scuffled with both indicted Republican Rick Renzi, and Iowa Republican Chuck Grassley. And those two were his friends. There has also been reporting that McCain scuffled with elderly Strom Thurmond, in that physical altercation they reportedly "didn't part friends."] More about: Rick Renzi
McCain Healthcare, McCain Economics, McCain Money"The True McCain Health Plan: Wealth Transfer From Voters to Corporations." ... "The McCain plan, if enacted, would result in an enormous transfer of wealth from the general public to large American businesses." -RJ Eskow "John McCain On Healthcare: The Ultimate Hypocrite And Yes, Liar." ... "Roger Hickey has a great post at ourfuture.org on the "dangerous fraud" that is John McCain's healthcare plan. As I point out ad nauseam in The Real McCain, McCain's positions are not simply fraudulent. The "straight-talker" rarely limits himself to simple dishonesty." ... "Here is a man who has been on government healthcare his entire life (daddy was an Admiral) -- all seven decades -- who dares deride it by saying, "Unlike my opponents, I do not believe that all of our nation's problems can be solved by turning control over to our government...."" ... "No, only his own healthcare is worthy of that." ... "In case you missed McCain's position: Government healthcare is good enough to pay his hospital bills -- with your "taxes" to quote him -- but it is not good enough for the rest of us -- oh and by the way, can you spare $1000 "my friends?" That means a lot coming from a guy who enjoys lounging at 8 different houses on his wife's inherited dime, and laughably calls other candidates "elitist."" ... "With straight talk like that, who needs mendacity? " -Cliff Schecter [With McCain's wife worth an estimated $100,000,000 (that's $100 MILLION), it's noteworthy that American tax dollars are paying for McCain's deluxe government health care.]
"Ignoring McCain's "greeted as liberators" assurance [in March 2003], Wash. Post editorial credited him with prewar "foresight"." ... "... as Media Matters for America has_noted, in the days immediately preceding and following the invasion McCain affirmed Bush administration statements that U.S. forces would be greeted as "liberators." ... "before the war, McCain echoed Vice President Dick Cheney's well-known prewar prediction about the success of the mission in Iraq:" "Immediately after the invasion, McCain again echoed Cheney's optimism:"
- "On the March 12, 2003, edition of MSNBC's Hardball, host Chris Matthews asked McCain: "Do you believe that the people of Iraq or at least a large number of them will treat us as liberators?" McCain answered: "Absolutely. Absolutely.""
"Additionally, in an interview with Salon.com published on June 13, 2003, on the same topic McCain stated: "Now, I think it's entirely appropriate now that regime change has been orchestrated -- and though the danger is certainly not over, the mission is 'accomplished' -- it's appropriate to have a hearing."" -MediaMatters.org
- "On the March 24, 2003, edition of Hardball -- several days after the U.S.-led coalition had invaded Iraq -- McCain said: "[T]here's no doubt in my mind that we will prevail and there's no doubt in my mind, once these people are gone, that we will be welcomed as liberators.""
McCain Military JudgementVIDEO: "McCain's Yes, No, Maybe. ["John McCain on the Iraq-Korea Analogy."]" ... "Behind the recent "100 years" brouhaha has been Sen. McCain's claim that we should be seeing our occupation of Iraq following the model of our long-term troop deployments in Germany, Japan and South Korea. But yesterday, the Huffington Post noted that McCain actually hasn't been consistent on this point either -- sometimes saying we need to leave soon and that Iraqis will never accept a permanent US presence and other times that he thinks they'll be fine with it and that he'd be happy staying for 100 or 1,000 years." -TPMtv [John McCain's shifting the Iraq-Korea military comparison goalposts.]
- January 31, 2005 "On Korea Analogy: No."
- June 10, 2007 "On Korea Analogy: Could Be ["I don't know, really"]."
- August 20, 2007 "On Korea Analogy: Maybe."
- November 27, 2007 "On Korea Analogy: No."
- January 3, 2008 "On Korea Analogy: Yes."
VIDEO: "Candles. [5 Years into McCain's 100 Years in Iraq]." -karinmoveon [On May 1st 2003, Republican President George Bush declared, "Major combat operation in Iraq have ended," under the now notorious "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED" sign.] [On April 9th 2003, Republican Senator John McCain declared, "It's clear that the end is very much in sight."]
VIDEO: "McCain Ups the Ante to One Million Years [in Iraq]." ... "John McCain on ABC's Good Morning America, January 9, 2008" TPMtv
McCain Healthcare, McCain Money, McCain Economics"Why John McCain Wants You To Give Up Your Health Insurance: The McCain Agenda: McCain believes that Americans use too much health care, and he has created a plan that will make care less affordable so millions of Americans will use less." -By Ezra Klein
McCain Money Lobbyists, McCain Healthcare"McCain introduced at health care event by health care lobbyist." -ThinkProgress.org
McCain Military JudgementVIDEO: "McCain: "Mission Accomplished"." -Double Talk Express
"The McCain Health Plan: Millions Lose Coverage, Health Costs Worsen, and Insurance and Drug Industries Win." ... "McCain’s plan is a dangerous fraud." ... "[McCain and his lobbyist advisors have] ... adopted the most extreme right-wing ideological approach, premised on the idea that the big problem in health care is that Americans have too much insurance – in their words, we don’t have enough “skin in the game” – and that only when we have to buy health care with money that comes directly out of our own pockets will consumers force doctors, hospitals and insurance companies to become more efficient." ... "So that’s the theory. But it is contradicted by the facts. Most of us already pay part of our premiums out of our own pockets, and we increasingly have to shell out for co-pays in order to get to see a doctor. The result—in practice—is that most people, even those with good insurance, now think twice or three times about even getting regular preventive health checkups. Having lots of “skin in the game” has meant that millions of Americans don’t get health care they need—and that’s one of the big problems in U.S. health care driving costs up, not down." ... "But McCain, like George Bush, pays more attention to ultra-conservative theory than he does to the facts. So McCain wants to tax workers’ health care premiums that are paid for by employers. Ask any expert, conservative or liberal, and they will tell you the result will be companies will stop providing health care as an employee benefit. Fortune Magazine quotes one of their experts on the impact of McCain's plan: “I predict that most companies would stop paying for health care in three to four years,” says Robert Laszewski, a consultant who works with corporate benefits managers." ... "Now keep this in mind: McCain and his corporate advisers don’t dispute this. The massive upheaval that would result – millions of families losing their health coverage on the job and then having to try to find an insurance company that would sell them a new policy that would cover their families—that’s not an unintended consequence of his proposal. That chaotic loss of health security is exactly what McCain intends to happen. " -Roger Hickey
McCain Health"The Folly of McCain-Care." ... "In just the last few weeks, this issue has started to become a political liability for McCain, thanks mostly to Elizabeth Edwards, who--in addition to being a well-known cancer patient--is also a well-known policy wonk. Edwards has given a series of speeches in which she has pointed out that neither she nor McCain himself, who is a three-time melanoma survivor, could buy individual insurance under his plan, since insurers would disqualify both of them for pre-existing conditions." -Jonathan Cohn
McCain Military JudgementVIDEO: "[McCain] In His Own Words." ... "100 Years in Iraq? Yes, he really did say it. Again and again. We explain the whole story in today's episode of TPMtv." -TPMtv "The Case of the Missing Education Policy: The McCain Agenda: Want to know what John McCain's plans are for fixing America's education system? Good luck. His last major statement was during his 2000 campaign." -Dana Goldstein
McCain Media Base, McCain Healthcare, McCain Falsehood"CNN continues trend of uncritically airing McCain's false attacks on Dems' health care plans." -MediaMatters.org VIDEO: "[McCain] Pop-Up Double Talk, Episode 2: Health Care." -Double Talk Express
"The McCain Agenda." -Prospect.org
McCain Language, McCain Military Judgement, McCain Religion"[McCain] The Militarist: Presumptive Republican nominee John McCain may protest that he hates war, but no American leader has promoted it more avidly. McCain is not only the most hawkish neocon on the horizon; he genuinely sees war as America's most ennobling enterprise." -Matthew Yglesias VIDEO: "TPMtv: Sunday Show Roundup: McCain's "Respectful" Campaign." -TPMtv
VIDEO: "[McCain Healthcare] Feeling the Pain." -SEIU
"McCain’s principles are leaving, on a jet plane." ... "John McCain, back when he was a champion of campaign-finance reform, fought for a measure requiring presidential candidates to pay the actual cost of flying on corporate jets. Around the same time, McCain also vowed not to rely on his wife’s considerable personal wealth to finance his presidential campaign." ... "It looks like both of those commitments, like far too many of McCain’s promises, are a little shaky.""[O]ver a seven-month period beginning last summer, Mr. McCain’s cash-short campaign gave itself an advantage by using a corporate jet owned by a company headed by his wife, Cindy McCain, according to public records. For five of those months, the plane was used almost exclusively for campaign-related purposes, those records show." ... "Mr. McCain’s campaign paid a total of $241,149 for the use of that plane from last August through February [five to seven months], records show. That amount is approximately the cost of chartering a similar jet for a month or two, according to industry estimates.""The problem in this instance is three-fold — the two commitments McCain was willing to break, and then the possible end-run around public financing." -Steve Benen
VIDEO: "McCain and Iraq: "100"." -DNC
McCain Military Judgement, McCain Language, McCain TemperVIDEO: "John McCain's Serious Foreign Policy." ... "John McCain was on a conference call with right-wing bloggers yesterday and boasted:" "I think that people should understand that I will be Hamas's worst nightmare."... "More disturbingly still, this chest-beating threat from McCain is merely the latest in a long line of adolescent, mindlessly belligerent war cries emanating from the Serious foreign policy candidate. In a GOP debate in May of last year, he bellowed that he would "follow [Osama bin Laden] to the gates of hell" only thereafter, according to ABC News, to then "crack[] a smile which gave the impression to some viewers that perhaps he viewed his own answer as being over the top." But he's since repeated that demonic formulation on numerous occasions, followed by the same creepy, self-satisfied smirk:" [Watch VIDEOS, also "McCain Smiles: "Gates of Hell,"" and McCain "facial expression"] ...
"And here was McCain's sober, Serious prescription in 2006 for ending sectarian warfare in Iraq:""One of the things I would do if I were President would be to sit the Shiites and the Sunnis down and say, "Stop the bullshit."""Add to that his merry singing of the joys of dropping bombs on the Iranian people, and it's clear that McCain's foreign policy approach seems even more childishly bellicose than the current occupant of the Oval Office." ... "McCain's foreign policy approach actually seems to be a less restrained and less complex rendition of Bush's "Bring-em-on" swagger that has really worked miracles in Iraq." -Glenn Greenwald
[ Glenn's use of sarcasm (above) sometimes eludes people.
McCain claims he would "follow [Osama bin Laden] to the gates of hell" except McCain doesn't know the road or even have a map.
When Republican President Bush said "bring em on" it recklessly endangered American troops by stupidly provoking an unpredictable enemy to literally attack our American troops. Beyond Bush's offensive disregard for American troops' lives, the statement broadly illustrated Bush's (and with few exceptions, the majority of Republicans) complete misunderstanding of international politics, it's relationship to military strategy, and the use of both to effectively secure America's national security.
John McCain's belligerent language for domestic political gain has international consequences both militarily and politically. This is something McCain has tried to use against Barack Obama when Barack said that he would follow up on actionable intelligence if Pakistan's Musharraf was unable or unwilling to do so. The irony being that Osama bin Laden is likely IN PAKISTAN and instead of following bin Laden THERE McCain is leading America into a war with IRAN with ignorant (or deceitful?) statements conflating Iran (which is Shia) with Al Qaeda (which is Sunni). The Shia Iranians are natural adversaries against the Sunni Al Qaeda. McCain's repeated misunderstanding of this shows disturbing ignorance of the military realities of the region or worse it represents the kind of systematic deceit that was used to help lie America into war with Iraq (all while Osama was reportedly rebuilding in Pakistan for incursions back into Afghanistan).
McCain doesn't know the Road to the Gates of Hell any better than he understands the antagonism between Shia and Sunni.
Barack Obama has a clear understanding of the Road that needs to be taken to secure America's security, and Hillary Clinton can be trusted to at least ask for directions.]
"Will McCain denounce Floyd Brown? It's time for the GOP to finally repudiate the creator of the infamous Willie Horton ad, who is back smearing Obama [with the North Carolina attack ad helping John McCain]." ... "He has given conservatism a rank smell for two decades -- and if there is a racist odor to the coming general election campaign, it is likely to emanate from his vicinity." ... "He lurks on the fringe of presidential politics because the Republicans tolerate and sometimes secretly encourage him, so long as they can claim that they have no connection with his schemes. Those denials have always been implausible -- and as he ramps up for a new season of divisive attacks, the question is whether the mainstream media will give Brown the kind of scrutiny he deserves." ... "Indeed, the Bush campaign had encouraged the makers of the Horton ad and certainly never made any serious effort to punish or even discourage the group. Two years later, in fact, significant evidence emerged that indicated possible collusion between Brown's gang and the official Bush cohort, specifically between Bush media consultant Roger Ailes, the future boss of Fox News Channel, and Larry McCarthy, the consultant hired by Brown to make the Horton ad." -Joe Conason
McCain Media Base"McCain Tips Hand, May Run Dishonorable Campaign." ... "The common wisdom among many is that in the case that Barack Obama is the Democratic nominee, the GOP hit machine will work as follows: A Republican crosses the line in attacking Obama, the media repeats the attacks over and over and over again in questioning whether it is right for the attacks to be put forward, John McCain quasi-denounces the attack, then a subsequent round of discussion (and replaying the attacks) goes on in the media. In such a situation, the attacks get out without McCain looking bad. Indeed, we've seen such a game play out surrounding an attack ad revolving on Reverend Wright that the North Carolina Republican Party is attempting to put on the air." ... "But there is a flaw with this common wisdom: McCain's clear willingness to resort to the lowest common denominator on his own." -Jonathan Singer "McCain Campaign: Associating Obama With Terrorists Is Fair Game." -Eric Kleefeld
McCain Temper"What McCain meant when he promised a ‘respectful campaign’." ... "Back in November, when most of the Republican presidential candidates were taking cheap shots at Democratic candidates, John McCain said he was above such behavior. “I think people want a respectful debate and a respectful discussion. And if they don’t, then obviously, I’m not the person to be their candidate,” McCain said at the time. “Legitimate policy differences, those should be debated and discussed. But I don’t think you should take shots at people.”" ... "It was an odd thing to say given McCain’s record of being a hothead who drops F-bombs on his colleagues who dare to disagree with him, but it was the kind of sentiment that sounded quite pleasant. After all, who’s against “respectful discussion” that focuses exclusively on “legitimate policy differences”?" ... "The problem, of course, is how McCain defines “respectful debate.” To borrow a line, McCain keeps using the phrase, but it doesn’t mean what he thinks it means." -Steve Benen "Despite saying he’ll ‘do everything’ in his power to stop NC [attack] ad, McCain hasn’t spoken to NC GOP head." -ThinkProgress "John McCain's Miserable Record on Hurricane Katrina." ... "... McCain's record on Hurricane Katrina suggests that he was part of the problem, not the solution. McCain was on Face the Nation on August 28, 2005, as Katrina gathered in the Gulf Coast. He said nothing about it. One day later, when Katrina made landfall in Louisiana, McCain was on a tarmac at Luke Air Force Base in Arizona, greeting President Bush with a cake in celebration of McCain's 69th birthday. Three days later, with the levees already breached and New Orleans filling with water, McCain's office released a three-sentence statement urging Americans to support the victims of the hurricane." ... "McCain may talk sympathetically about New Orleans' recovery this week, but the record shows that when it mattered most, McCain failed to act." -Jonathan Stein
McCain Military Judgement, McCain Language, McCain Religion"Homeland Security Report Sharply Rebukes McCain’s ‘Islamic Extremism’ Rhetoric." ... "A recent DHS [Department of Homeland Security] report has concluded that linking Islam to terrorism offends moderate Muslims and gives extremists “religious legitimacy,” adding any such language should be avoided:" "Such words may actually boost support for radicals among Arab and Muslim audiences by giving them a veneer of religious credibility or by causing offense to moderates. […]""The report also stressed that “lingo like ‘Islamo-fascism’ is out, too,” a term that conservatives — including President Bush — consistently use to rally the country around a militant response to terrorism and terrorists." -ThinkProgress.org"U.S. officials may be “unintentionally portraying terrorists, who lack moral and religious legitimacy, as brave fighters, legitimate soldiers or spokesmen for ordinary Muslims,” says a Homeland Security report. […]"
"“We should not concede the terrorists’ claim that they are legitimate adherents of Islam,” the report said."
McCain Religion, McCain Money, McCain Temper"Charles Krauthammer: Dishonest Hypocrite." ... "... if Krauthammer wants to pretend that he's concerned about "the character and beliefs of a man who would be president," perhaps he can use his national platform to delve into the character and beliefs of John McCain. A few potential areas of concern:" "Any character issues there that you want to talk about, Chuck? I didn't think so." -Barb in MD"McCain seeking out and embracing endorsements from "men of God" who accuses the Catholic Church of conspiring with Hitler, who believe that Hurricane Katrina was a just punishment for the people of New Orleans, and who believe that our nation's destiny is to destroy the "false religion" of Islam. Kind of trumps what Reverend Wright had to say, doesn't it?" "McCain, who in his official capacity as a Senator, protected his Republican brethren from being exposed in the Jack Abramoff scandal." "McCain's anger management issues that have led to his trying to have women fired for crossing him and spewing profanities at colleagues who disagree with him. A temper so vile that Republican Senator Thad Cochran once said that the thought of McCain as President "sends a cold chill down my spine."" "McCain admitting to multiple affairs while married to his first wife, finally divorcing her to marry his current, millionaire wife who is 18 years his junior, which transformed him from a run of the mill adulterer into a cradle-robbing gigolo."
"The Swiftboating Begins." ... "What matters is going on the offense against the author of the typically bizarre, distracting, and hideous rightwing attacks: John McCain." ... "It ought to be beneath senator McCain to have his side label Obama as a terrible person because he has failed to shun a fellow who did wrong 40 years or is not a patriot because he neglected to wear a flag on lapel, or declined to disavow a Korean War vet and pastor because he spoke too harshly one Sunday. McCain went to Vietnam to re-open peaceful relations, so he knows the place of forgiveness. He is a man of military honor and knows how to respect a friend and a foe. Hence, it ought to be beneath McCain to tolerate attacks against Obama that closely resemble the despicable charges Bush launched against McCain in South Carolina in 2000. It should be the case that McCain doesn't just pretend to stop these attacks, but actually does so. Aside from his laissez-faire positions on iraq and the economy, McCain's primary disqualification for the oval office is that he knows these vile, crazy attacks are wrong for America but he won't stop them." -Reed Hundt
McCain Money, McCain Falsehood"McCain falsely claims he ‘never voted for a single earmark or pork barrel project.'" ... "claimed that he had “never voted for a single earmark or pork barrel project.” But, as NBC’s Adam Aigner-Treworgy points out, that isn’t true:" "While it is true that McCain has never sponsored an earmark — by the strict definition of the word — he has certainly voted for bills with earmarks, including some of the specific projects he criticizes most vocally on the campaign trail."-ThinkProgress
"McCain Wraps Up Poverty Tour With Speech At ‘Business Awards’ Banquet." ... "It’s fitting that McCain would end a tour of the poorest parts of the country by talking to wealthy Americans. After all, he is offering a $1.7 trillion dollar tax cut for corporations, despite U.S. corporate taxes being the fourth-lowest [PDF] in the industrialized world as a share of the economy." ... "Throughout this week, he has touted tax relief for the poor. But adults working full time earning minimum wage and living in poverty would not even receive a tax cut from McCain, as a Center for American Progress Action Fund analysis [PDF] reveals: "McCain Tax Plan Gives Nothing to Families in Poverty."-ThinkProgress
POOR FAMILIES
Single Parent with One Child
Single Parent with Two ChildrenANNUAL INCOME $12,000
$24,000TAX CUT $0
$0
"Flashback: As Katrina hit, McCain celebrated 69th birthday with Bush." ... "... as Newsweek notes, on Aug. 29, 2005, when Katrina had just hit New Orleans, McCain was posing with President Bush for his 69th birthday:" "It was Aug. 29, McCain’s 69th birthday, and on the tarmac, Bush presented his old political rival with a cake. The two posed, holding the cake up for cameras, and within seconds, went their separate ways. The cake, melting in the 110-degree Arizona heat, was left behind, uneaten.""“Yet on the issue of New Orleans, it’s still unclear how different McCain and Bush actually are,” Newsweek writes, noting that McCain has visited the Ninth Ward only twice since the storm. “The senator won’t present his own plans for recovery, at least not today.”" -ThinkProgress
VIDEO: "[McCain] Pop-Up DoubleTalk, Episode 1: New Orleans." [What John McCain SAYS (especially in front of the cameras for his media base) and what John McCain DOES are Two Different Things.] -DoubleTalkExpress
McCain Money"McCain Uses Prison Labor." ... "I guess that's what happens when a very_wealthy Republican realizes that there aren't many people who want to donate to, or volunteer for, their campaign. They hit up a town with a captive labor force for some free elbow grease." -Natasha Chart "An Alabama mayor gives the McCranky campaign all-but-free space rental and totally free inmate labor. So what else is new with Today's GOP?" -DWT
VIDEO: "[McCain Katrina "response"] Let them eat cake." ... "On the Morning Katrina Struck New Orleans, and Hours After the Levee Breach, McCain Was Enjoying Birthday Cake With President Bush. From the White House Website: "President George W. Bush joins Arizona Senator John McCain in a small celebration of McCain's 69th birthday Monday, Aug. 29, 2005, after the President's arrival at Luke Air Force Base near Phoenix. The President later spoke about Medicare to 400 guests at the Pueblo El Mirage RV Resort and Country Club in nearby El Mirage. White House photo by Paul Morse"" [Newsweek reports that the cake was "left behind, uneaten": "The two posed, holding the cake up for cameras, and within seconds, went their separate ways. The cake, melting in the 110-degree Arizona heat, was left behind, uneaten." While New Orleans was getting battered by Hurricane Katrina, McCain and Bush were posing with a photo-op prop of a perfectly good cake that was "left behind, uneaten."] - DoubleTalkExpress "GOP Bigot Eruption: McCain Again “Fights” His Party’s Racist Impulses." -Oliver Willis
McCain Media Base"Get Used to This Bull****." ... [re: the grossly offensive and subtly racist Republican ad being run by McCain's media base for free against Obama.]" "Step 1: GOP wingnut (is that redundant?) says something offensive, writes a nasty editorial, creates a vicious radio or tv spot."
"Step 2: Ad receives widespread coverage and national attention."
"Step 3: McCain condemns the ad/editorial/whatever."
"Step 4: Chris Matthews and other bobbleheads in the media show off their man-crush for McCain while praising his integrity AND showing the offending ad/editorial on national television."
"Step 5: I scream at the television and send another 25 bucks to the Obama campaign."
-John Cole
McCain Religion"Hagee Says Hurricane Katrina Struck New Orleans Because It Was ‘Planning A Sinful’ ‘Homosexual Rally’." ... "On September 18, 2006, Pastor John Hagee — whose endorsement Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) said this past Sunday he was “glad to have” — told NPR’s Terry Gross that “Hurricane Katrina was, in fact, the judgment of God against the city of New Orleans.” “New Orleans had a level of sin that was offensive to God,” Hagee said, because “there was to be a homosexual parade there on the Monday that the Katrina came.”" ... "On his radio show yesterday, right-wing talker Dennis Prager asked Hagee to respond to “the various charges made against him” in a fact sheet put out by the Democratic National Committee. Asked about his comments on Hurricane Katrina, Hagee said “the topic of that day was cursing and blessing”:" "HAGEE: Yes. The topic of that day was cursing and blessing. … What happened in New Orleans looked like the curse of God, in time if New Orleans recovers and becomes the pristine city it can become it may in time be called a blessing. But at this time it’s called a curse."
"Prager followed up by asking if all natural disasters are a result of “the divine hand” and if there is “any natural disaster that is not the result of sin?” Hagee responded by saying “it’s a result of God’s permissible will” and “that there was going to be a massive homosexual rally there the following Monday,” which he said “was sin”[.]" ... "In February, after working hard to gain Hagee’s endorsement, McCain said he was “very honored” to receive it." -ThinkProgress.org
"'Reformer' McCain Repeatedly Did Favors For Wealthy Donor." -HuffingtonPost on NYT article
McCain Temper, McCain Language"John McCain's uncontrollable rages." ... "Michael Leahy of the Washington Post chronicles a lifetime of abusive outbursts by Sen. John McCain." ... "Here ar[e] some of the highlights: McCain became embroiled in a profanity-laced shouting match with Senator John Cornyn in 2007, according to the article. He also had some kind of confrontation with Rep. Rick Renzi in 2006, a conflict that was reportedly touched off by McCain calling Renzi "boy" too often. McCain got into a famous shoving match with Chuck Grassley in 1992. In 1989 McCain shocked the capitol by getting in Sen. Richard Shelby's face." ... "The public has a right to know what measures, if any, McCain has taken to allay a destructive pattern of behavior that has plagued him since childhood." -Lindsay Beyerstein More about: Rick Renzi
McCain Media Base, McCain Money, McCain Math, McCain Falsehood"Stephanopoulos left unchallenged McCain's assertion that "every time you have cut capital gains taxes, revenues have increased"." ... "Summary: This Week's George Stephanopoulos did not challenge Sen. John McCain's assertion that "history shows every time you have cut capital gains taxes, revenues have increased -- going back to Jack Kennedy." Stephanopoulos did not note that, notwithstanding a potential short-term revenue increase, many economists have challenged the claim that revenue goes up over the long term as a result of capital gains tax rates being cut. " -MediaMatters.org
McCain Media Base"Kurtz: ‘Fox Should Mention’ That Karl Rove Is ‘A Maxed-Out Donor To McCain’." ... "On Sunday, Fox News Sunday hosted former Bush adviser Karl Rove — who has been a Fox News contributor since Feb. 5 — to offer supposedly independent analysis of the presidential race. As Think Progress noted, Fox refused to mention or acknowledge that Rove has been described as an informal adviser to the McCain campaign and is said to have provided electoral maps to the campaign." -ThinkProgress
McCain Money, McCain Money Lobbyists"Another McCain scandal for the media to ignore." ... "Wouldn't you like to pick up a piece of land from the Army — with special water rights where water is all-important — for a quarter of a million bucks and sell it at a $20 million profit two years later? You can. Just make friends with John McCain." ... "Why the New York Times chose the eve of the Pennsylvania primary to run this story. virtually guaranteeing that it won't develop any legs, is beyond me. Note that since McCain's wife — the one with the money, the one who was in a business deal with Charles Keating at the time when her husband helped Keating bilk the taxpayers of $2.3 billion — has refused to release her tax returns, we can't know what sort of financial goodies Donald Diamond has managed to slip her over the years." -Mark Kleiman
VIDEO: "McCain Flip-Flops In 30 Seconds: Hagee Endorsement A ‘Mistake,’ But ‘I’m Glad To Have’ It." ... "Last February, hard-line conservative evangelical Pastor John Hagee endorsed Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) candidacy for president. Despite Hagee’s history of controversial and bigoted comments –- such as calling Catholicism “The Great Whore” and blaming Hurricane Katrina on gays –- McCain said he was “very honored” to receive the endorsement, one which he also reportedly sought." ... "... McCain has been confused quite a bit lately on a wide range of issues:" "– McCain has said waterboarding “should never be condoned in the U.S.” but [McCain] voted against a bill banning the CIA from using torture, specifically including waterboarding."
"– McCain says he is “a consistent supporter of educational benefits” for the military but has indicated he will not support the bipartisan 21st Century GI Bill."
"– On at least three occasions, McCain baselessly claimed Iran is training Al Qaeda in Iraq but argued the error was an isolated slip of the tongue."
"– McCain falsely suggested that Al-Qaeda in Iraq is a “sect of Shi’ites.”"
"– McCain falsely claimed Moktada al-Sadr “declared the cease-fire” after recent fighting in Basra and has said he is both a “major player” in Iraq and that his influence “has been on the wane for a long time.”"
"– Economists and nonpartisan analysts have said recently that the numbers in McCain’s economic plan simply “don’t add up.”"
"– McCain has made the elimination of earmarks a cornerstone of his presidential campaign but he [McCain] can’t name any [earmarks] he would eliminate."
"– In a matter of one day, McCain said Americans are both “better off” and “not better off” than they were before President Bush took office." -ThinkProgress.org
McCain MoneyVIDEO: "Fabulous Life of John McCain." ... "In the US Senate, John McCain is the eigth-richest, worth a minimum of $28 million dollars. [Or well over $100 million dollars for the "MCCAINS" net worth depending on who's counting, as for average American economic problems, to McCain they are "psychological."]" ... "He has nine properties from Arizona to Virginia with an estimated worth of over thirteen million dollars, including a 2.7 million dollar condo on gorgeous Coronado Island." -[McCain] DoubleTalkExpress
McCain Campaign Finance, McCain Money Lobbyists"McCain finds a loophole in McCain-Feingold." ... "I see that John McCain, having cheated on the public-funding rules for the primaries, has now figured out a loophole in the McCain-Feingold legislation that will allow his fat-cat friends to give his campaign $70,000 each instead of $2300 each." -Mark Kleiman
McCain Race History"McCain's Exploitation of John Lewis." ... "On Monday morning, John McCain traveled to Selma, Alabama, to give a speech about patriotism and courage--that is, to expropriate the patriotism and courage of a Barack Obama supporter [60's civil rights leader John Lewis]." ... "McCain, of course, was not part of the civil rights movement. In fact, in 1983, he was one of 77 Republican House members to vote against the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. He has never been close to Lewis, according to an associate of Lewis. He did not tell Lewis he would be making this speech, and he did not invite Lewis to attend the event." -David Corn
"John McCain, Charles Grassley Physical Altercation Confirmed By Washington Post." ... "Sunday's Washington Post features a front-page story examining the notorious temper of Sen. John McCain, including a first-hand account of McCain's physical altercation with fellow GOP Sen. Chuck Grassley." "It was early 1992, and the occasion was an informal gathering of a select committee investigating lingering issues about Vietnam War prisoners and those missing in action, most notably whether any American servicemen were still being held by the Vietnamese. It is unclear precisely what issue set off McCain that day. But at some point, he mocked Grassley to his face and used a profanity to describe him. Grassley stood and, according to two participants at the meeting, told McCain, "I don't have to take this. I think you should apologize."" ... "McCain refused and stood to face Grassley. "There was some shouting and shoving between them, but no punches," recalls a spectator, who said that Nebraska Democrat Bob Kerrey helped break up the altercation.""Earlier this month, The Huffington Post first reported on charges leveled in Cliff Schecter's book, The Real McCain, that McCain had physically attacked GOP Arizona Rep. Rick Renzi. At the time, McCain issued a non-denial denial, saying the reports about his temper were either "false or exaggerated."" ... "But in the Washington Post today, McCain aide Mark Salter confirmed that Renzi and McCain had a very heated exchange:""Reports recently surfaced of Rep. Rick Renzi, an Arizona Republican, taking offense when McCain called him "boy" once too often during a 2006 meeting, a story that McCain aides confirm while playing down its importance. "Renzi flared and he was prickly," McCain strategist Mark Salter said. "But there were no punches thrown or anything.""" -Huffington Post More about: Rick Renzi
McCain Flip Flop"McCain’s flourishing flip-flop list." ... "" -Steve Benen
McCain Money, , McCain Flip Flop"Sugar Momma Cindy: Is John McCain A “Kept Man?”" ... "Among other journalistic crimes in his softball interview on This Week, John McCain was allowed by George Stephanopoulos to waffle unchallenged on the question of tax cuts. McCain now fully embraces the cuts that he once said "offended his conscience."" ... "But the question of how much McCain has personally benefited from those tax cuts gets more pointed as Cindy McCain refused this week to release her tax returns. CNN in the video above [see video here] had no problem creating a graph of the personal wealth of candidates that left out Cindy McCain's assets, but included those of Michelle Obama and Bill Clinton. Just a wee bit misleading." ... "The McCain campaign cites the decision of Theresa Heinz-Kerry as a precedent for not releasing Cindy McCain's returns. But As Media Matters notes, there's a big difference:" "These media reports, therefore, have advanced the McCain campaign's comparison between Cindy McCain's limited release of financial information and Heinz Kerry's, and in doing so, ignored a key distinction in the information they released: Unlike Heinz Kerry, Cindy McCain did not release sufficient information for the public to determine the extent to which she benefited from the tax cuts her husband supports extending.""Stephanopoulos never asked if John McCain's flip-flop on tax cuts has benefited Sugar Momma Cindy, or how we would know." -Jane Hamsher
VIDEO: "McCain Flip-Flops, Supports Immediate Reversal of Roe v. Wade." ... "In 1999, the “moderate” version of John McCain said that overturning Roe v. Wade would be dangerous for women and he would not support it, even in “the long term.”." ... "This morning on ABC, McCain — now aggressively courting the likes of Jerry Falwell — expressed his unequivocal support for overturning Roe v. Wade. Watch it:" -ThinkProgress.org "McCain now supports the immediate overturn of Roe v Wade." ... "St. McCain really is crashing and burning on his supposed principals trying to woo the right wing extreme Christian wing of the GOP. Now he says he wants to immediately overturn Roe v Wade after he was against it." "STEPHANOPOULOS: Let me ask one question about abortion. Then I want to turn to Iraq. You're for a constitutional amendment banning abortion, with some exceptions for life and rape and incest."
"MCCAIN: Rape, incest and the life of the mother. Yes." [red emphasis added]
"McCain wants a constitutional ban on abortion." ... "McCain used to say that Roe should be overturned and the issue of abortion "returned to the states"--which would be functionally equivalent to an abortion ban for most women. Now he says he favors a South Dakota-style abortion ban for the entire country." ... "John McCain is not principled and not moderate. He's a power-grubbing old man who sees his last chance to be president slipping away." -Lindsay Beyerstein
"McCain and Abortion: The Dance of Disingenuousness Continues." -Scott Lemieux "McCain supports overturning Roe." ... "He’s been wishy-washy on abortion in the past, back in his media-friendly “maverick” days, but now that he’s running for president he’s turning into the social conservative he needs to be to have any hope of making it through the GOP primaries." ... "Yes, Sen. John McCain told ABC’s George Stephanolpoulos this morning that he would support the overturning of Roe v. Wade by the Supreme Court." -Michael J.W. Stickings
McCain Military Judgement, McCain Falsehood"Ken Pollack: Al Qaeda is a great "catch-all" term [when McCain makes false military claims]." ... "The New York Times today examines John McCain's very Bush-like propensity to run around slapping the "Al Qaeda" label on everyone we're fighting in Iraq, even though . . . it's completely false to describe them that way. The article, needless to say, asks war cheerleader and Extremely Serious Middle East Expert Kenneth Pollack of the Brookings Institution what he thinks about that and he replies with one of the most striking statements in a while:" "Some other analysts do not object to Mr. McCain's portraying the insurgency (or multiple insurgencies) in Iraq as that of Al Qaeda. They say he is using a "perfectly reasonable catchall phrase" that, although it may be out of place in an academic setting, is acceptable on the campaign trail, a place that "does not lend itself to long-winded explanations of what we really are facing," said Kenneth M. Pollack, research director at the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution."
... "Poor John McCain can't be expected to be accurate in describing the identities and goals of all our Enemies while on the campaign trail. That's far too complex to bother the shallow American voter with. So it's "perfectly reasonable" -- that's really the phrase Pollack used -- to just call them all "Al Qaeda," because it's not as though that term packs any sort of emotional punch or is likely to mislead people in thinking about whether we should withdraw. It's just convenient shorthand for "Arabs who think that we shouldn't be occupying Muslim countries" and, notwithstanding the fact that it's completely false, there is no reason whatsoever to object to McCain's efforts to mislead Americans into thinking that Iraqi insurgents are the same people who attacked us on 9/11." ... "It's unclear how anyone -- particularly given McCain's sloppy, manipulative use of the term "Al Qaeda" when discussing Iraq generally -- could have ruled out that McCain was being purposely misleading in trying to exaggerate the "Iranian threat," a centerpiece of his campaign, by actively linking them to "Al Qaeda."" -Glenn Greenwald
McCain Economics, McCain Money, McCain FalsehoodVIDEO: "McCain Tries To Run From Bush, One Day After Declaring ‘Great Progress Economically’ During Bush’s Tenure." ... [In one interview McCain says:]
"So despite all this “great progress,” Americans are still “hurting badly”? Maybe that explains why McCain has said that many of the country’s economic problems are just “psychological.”" ... "The Wonk Room has more hereand here on McCain’s misguided economic plans to help the American public." -ThinkProgress.org
"I think Americans are hurting, and hurting badly. In fact, I think Americans are not better off than they were eight years ago...."
[But when asked the day before whether "... if Americans were asked, are you better off today than you were before George Bush took office more than seven years ago, what answer would they give?" McCain said:]
"... you could make an argument that there’s been great progress economically over that period of time."
"McCain: ‘A lot of our problems today are psychological.’." -ThinkProgress.org
VIDEO: "[McCain thinks Americans are better off, the facts show otherwise.]" ... [McCain thinks Americans are better off. Since Bush came into office:] "Household Income Down $1000. Unemployment Up. Highest Inflation in 17 Years. Gas Prices Up 200%. 1.8 Million Jobs Lost." -DNC "John McCain Lives Elite Lavish Lifestyle with Several Servants But Won't Release Wife's Tax Info." ... "No wonder the GOP nominee favors tax cuts for wealthy--he lives a lavish super-rich lifestyle on his wife Cindy's secret 100 million dollar fortune! He won't tell the American people exactly how rich she is, but his own tax returns give a sneak peak. Now this is a true elitist life-style with servants, care-takers at some of his reported 8 homes, and personal assistants." "...Charlie Gibson...." ... "... ask him, just for me: are you seriously claiminging that your family couldn't pay another 2 percent of a tax rate to fund the war you claim to support or the Vets that you stiff on the new GI Bill? Instead he makes my kids borrow it from the Chinese so that he can live his elitist lifestyle! That's a sin." ... "The AP reports as much as it can, given McCain's elitist secrecy about his family fortune:" " -Faithful Progressive"McCain reported paying $136,572 in wages to household employees in 2007. Aides say the McCains pay for a caretaker for a cabin in Sedona, Ariz., child care for their teenage daughter, and a personal assistant for Cindy McCain."
McCain Economics, McCain Money"McCain Gas Tax Holiday Worth Only 60 Cents a Day." -ThinkProgress.org
"10 Debate Questions John McCain Will Never Be Asked." -Perrspectives.com [Red emphasis added]
-Perrspectives.com- "1. Do you agree with Pastor John Hagee that war with Iran is the fulfillment of biblical prophecy?"
"In February, you shared a stage with Pastor John Hagee and said you were "very proud" to have his endorsement. You also called the Reverend Rod Parsley, a man who said of Islam "America was founded, in part, with the intention of seeing this false religion destroyed", your "spiritual guide." Do you believe America's mission is to destroy Islam? Do you join Pastor Hagee in believing the United States must attack Iran to fulfill the biblical prophecy of Armageddon in Israel in which 144,000 Jews will be converted to Christianity and the rest killed? Is that why you joked about "bomb bomb Iran?" If not, why will you not renounce the support of Hagee and Parsley?"- "2. Doesn't your legendary temper make you too dangerous to be trusted with the presidency of the United States?"
"Your anger, even toward friends and allies, is legendary. You purportedly dropped the F-Bomb on your own GOP colleagues John Cornyn and Chuck Grassley. In the book, The Real McCain, author Cliff Schechter claims you got into a fist-fight with your fellow Arizona Republican Rick Renzi. Allegedly, you even publicly used a crude term, one which decorum and the FCC prohibit us from even saying on the air, to describe your own wife. Which if any of these episodes is untrue? Don't your anger management problems make you too dangerously unstable to be president of the United States?"- "3. Doesn't your confusion regarding basic facts about the war in Iraq, including repeatedly citing a nonexistent Al Qaeda-Iran alliance, make you unfit for command?"
"On four occasions in one month, you confused friend and foe in Iraq by describing Sunni Al Qaeda as being backed by Shiite Iran. Then you showed a misunderstanding of the U.S. chain of command when you claimed you would not back shifting forces from Iraq to Afghanistan "unless Gen. [David] Petraeus said that he felt that the situation called for that," a decision which Petraeus himself told you and your Senate colleagues only the week before rests not with him but with his superiors. Doesn't your lack of understanding and judgment when it comes to basic facts of America's national security disqualify you as commander-in-chief?"- "4. Given your past adultery, should Americans consider you a moral exemplar of family values?"
"You are the nominee of a Republican Party which claims to support so-called "family values." Yet you commenced an adulterous relationship with your current wife Cindy months before the dissolution of your previous marriage to your first wife Carol. Should Americans consider you to be a moral exemplar of family values?"- "5. Doesn't your flip-flop on Jerry Falwell being an "agent of intolerance" show your opportunistic pandering to the religious right?"
"In 2000, you famously called the late Jerry Falwell "an agent of intolerance," a statement which may have cost you the decisive South Carolina primary. But as you ramped up your next presidential run in 2006, you embraced Falwell and gave the commencement address at his Liberty University. When Tim Russert asked that spring if you still considered him an agent of intolerance, you said, "'no, I don't."Why shouldn't the American people consider you a flip-flopping opportunist who cynically courted the religious right to further your 2008 presidential ambitions?"- "6. Given your wealth and privileged upbringing, aren't you - and not Barack Obama - the elitist?"
"You have called Barack Obama an elitist. Yet you recently returned to your exclusive private high school, one which now costs over $38,000 a year to attend. Your wife is the heiress to a beer distribution company, reputedly owns 8 homes and has a net worth well over $100 million. Your children all attended private schools, academies which also happened to be the primary beneficiaries of funds from your supposed charitable foundation. Shouldn't the American people in fact view you as the elitist, and a hypocritical one at that?"- "7. What is your religion, really? And has the answer in the past changed as the South Carolina primary approached?"
"I want to ask about your seemingly ever-changing religious beliefs. In June 2007, McClatchy reported, "McCain still calls himself an Episcopalian." In August 2007, as ABC reported, your campaign staff identified you as "Episcopalian" in a questionnaire prepared for ABC News' August 5 debate. But as the primary in evangelical-rich South Carolina neared, in September 2007 you said of your religious faith, "It plays a role in my life. By the way, I'm not Episcopalian. I'm Baptist." But in March 2008, Pastor Dan Yeary of your North Phoenix Baptist Church refused to comment on why you have refused to finally undergo a baptism ceremony. Congressional directories still list you as an Episcopalian. In the past, you've said, "When I'm asked about it, I'll be glad to discuss it."So what is your religion? And couldn't Americans be forgiven for assuming your changing faith is tied to your changing political needs?"- "8. Didn't President Bush betray you with his signing statement on the Detainee Treatment Act? You claim to be against torture, but aren't you a hypocrite for voting "no" on the Senate waterboaring ban?"
"You've said that "we can't torture or treat inhumanely suspected terrorists we have captured". And in December 2005, you famously reached a compromise with President Bush on the Detainee Torture Act banning cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment of detainees. But just two weeks later, President Bush issued a signing statement making it clear he would ignore the compromise you just reached. Then in February 2007, you voted "no" on a Senate bill banning waterboarding. Isn't it fair to say President Bush betrayed you with his December 30, 2005 signing statement? And isn't it fair to say you caved to the right-wing of your party on the issue in order to win the Republican nomination?"- "9. Why did you flip-flop on the Bush tax cuts you twice opposed? Why do you now support making them permanent for the wealthiest Americans who need them least?"
"You twice voted against the Bush tax cuts. Now you support making them permanent. In 2001, you said, "I cannot in good conscience support a tax cut in which so many of the benefits go to the most fortunate among us at the expense of middle-class Americans who need tax relief." Now, according to the Center for American Progress, your tax plan would cost more than $2 trillion over the next decade and "would predominantly benefit the most fortunate taxpayers, offering two new massive tax cuts for corporations and delivering 58 percent of its benefits to the top 1 percent of taxpayers." Isn't it true that you flip-flopped on the Bush tax cuts? Isn't it fair to say that you now favor a massive expansion of the federal budget deficit in order to fund a tax giveaway to the wealthiest Americans who need it least?"- "10. With the economy tanking, shouldn't Americans be concerned over your past statements that "the issue of economics is not something I've understood as well as I should?""
"Americans consistently report that the economy is the issue that concerns them most. Yet more than once, you proclaimed your ignorance when it comes to the economy. In November 2005, you told the Wall Street Journal, "I'm going to be honest: I know a lot less about economics than I do about military and foreign policy issues. I still need to be educated." Then in December 2007, you admitted, "The issue of economics is not something I've understood as well as I should." Shouldn't the American be worried about President McCain's ability to lead the United States out of recession? Given your past statements, shouldn't the American reject out of hand your claim that "I know the economy better than Senator Clinton and Senator Obama do?"""
"Question for the Class [on McCain's media treatment.]" ... "Do you think if Barack Obama had left his seriously ill wife after having had multiple affairs, had been a member of the "Keating Five," had had a relationship with a much younger lobbyist that his staff felt the need to try and block, had intervened on behalf of the client of said young lobbyist with a federal agency, had denounced then embraced Jerry Falwell, had denounced then embraced the Bush tax cuts, had confused Shiite with Sunni, had confused Al Qaeda in Iraq with the Mahdi Army, had actively sought the endorsement and appeared on stage with a man who denounced the Catholic Church as a whore, and stated that he knew next to nothing about economics -- do you think it's possible that Obama would have been treated differently by the media than John McCain has been? Possible?" ... "And -- this is fun to contemplate -- if Michelle Obama had been an adulteress, drug addict thief with a penchant for plagiarism -- do you think that she would be subject to slightly different treatment from the media than Cindypills McCain has been? Anyone?" -Sir Charles Cogitamus
"How Many "Gaffes" Equal Incompetence?" ... "John McCain screwed up on Foreign Policy 101 AGAIN. Yesterday at the AP annual meeting, McCain said he would defer any decision to General Petraeus over whether troops should be shifted from Iraq to Afghanistan in order to intensify the search for Osama bin Laden. Only problem is that this is not Petraeus's job, as he has stated before." ... "By my count, this makes 6 times this month that McCain has screwed up basic foreign policy facts...the other 5 being various conflations of who exactly is fighting in Iraq." ... "This is not deep homework, and has nothing to do with running for President. For John McCain to make this many mistakes while holding an important national security post as Ranking Member of the Armed Services Committee is simply unacceptable. These types of mistakes would prevent John McCain from getting a job as a research assistant at any think tank in D.C., let alone delivering anything resembling a responsible foreign policy as president." -Moira Whelan
VIDEO: "McCain: Out of Touch." ... "The Same Old Politics: McCain and Bush are one in the same on the economy. They've told us the economy is strong, we're just in a rough patch and we're not headed into a recession." ... "But here's the facts: The economy has lost 232,000 jobs this year! From January to March 2008, the Bureau of Labor Statistics has reported that payroll employment has declined by 232,000. According to the Associated Press, "the year's job losses near the staggering quarter-million mark." [Bureau of Labor Statistics, Change in Payroll Employment, accessed 4/10/08; Associated Press, 4/4/08, emphasis added]" -DoubleTalkExpress
McCain Torture, McCain Military Judgement"McCain: Torturing Americans Not Okay; Everyone Else, Maybe." ... "John McCain is either growing more confused and disoriented by the day, or he really thinks it's okay for us to torture people--as long as they're not Americans." ... "We've articulated a number of times in the past why torturing is bad for the U.S. military and bad for America--as if it should even be up for debate." -Brandon Friedman VIDEO: "McCain Takes Bold Stance On Torture: ‘We Cannot Ever Torture Any American’." ... "Today, during the question-and-answer period of Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) address to the Associated Press, a journalist asked McCain about torturing terrorism detainees, saying “Don’t we stand for something better?” McCain seemed to get confused, talking instead about his opposition to the torture of Americans." ... "Of course, the question had nothing to do with torturing Americans, something no American would support. The question was about how Americans should treat detainees in the war on terror — an issue McCain has hardly been “very clear” on." ... "As he did today, McCain has condemned waterboarding in the past. He has called it a “horrible torture technique” and a “terrible and odious practice” that “should never be condoned in the U.S.” Yet in February, McCain voted against a bill banning the CIA from using torture, specifically including waterboarding." ... "When the bill passed, McCain encouraged Bush to veto it — effectively supporting the CIA’s use of “stress positions, hypothermia, threats to the detainee and his family, severe sleep deprivation, and severe sensory deprivation.”" ... "The only thing McCain has been “very clear” on is his completely uncontroversial — and completely irrelevant — opposition to the torturing of Americans. Like Bush, will McCain claim that “America does not torture” and yet condone torture behind closed doors? " -ThinkProgress.org
McCain Media BaseVIDEO: "McCain Attacks The Press, Who Then Offer Him His ‘Favorite Treats’ Of Coffee And Donuts." -ThinkProgress
McCain Money, McCain Campaign Finance"As lawsuit is filed, DNC says McCain maybe breaks laws 'daily'." ... "The Democratic National Committee is keeping up its offensive against John McCain and his campaign finance record, releasing a memo Monday accusing the GOP candidate of potentially breaking the law daily in his attempts to free himself of public financing obligations." ... "The DNC released a memo Monday outlining several of McCain's potential law violations. The arguments also serve as the backbone of a DNC lawsuit against the Federal Election Commission saying the agency is too weak to enforce the law." ... "McCain "has repeatedly tried to buck campaign finance laws for his own political gain," the DNC charges, citing reports that his campaign secured a loan in part by "pledging to enter the public financing system if his bid for the presidency faltered."" -Nick Juliano "DNC Files Lawsuit About Campaign Finance Weasel John McCain." ... "As we all know by now, John McCain applied for -- and was accepted into -- the public financing system for the primary. With that acceptance came certain requirements, one of those being that he can't spend more than $56,757,500 million during the primary." ... "As of February 29, 2008 McCain has -- by his own admission -- exceeded that amount. The FEC Chairman David Mason says McCain can't leave the public financing system without permission of the FEC, but John McCain is thumbing his nose at that. He has imperiously announced that the law doesn't apply to him, and is refusing to answer Mason's questions regarding a loan he took out that prevents him from opting out of the public financing system." ... "Since the FEC doesn't have enough commissioners to take action, having been gutted by Republicans in the Senate who are blocking the appointment of a quorum, the DNC's complaint about this matter has fallen on deaf ears. (We filed a similar complaint [PDF].) If the FEC fails to act, the law allows the DNC to file suit compelling them to do so -- which they did today." ... "In Free Ride, their book on John McCain and the press, Paul Waldman and David Brock say that "the press's affection for John McCain is built on three foundations: his Vietnam experience, his advocacy for campaign finance reform, and his style in dealing with reporters." But his commitment to campaign finance reform is a sham, and the DNC's actions go straight to the heart of exposing this deceit and hypocrisy." -Jane Hamsher "GOP Bigot Eruption: Rep. Geoff Davis Calls Sen. Obama A “Boy”." ... "They won’t contain themselves. No matter how much John McCain asks his party and fellow conservatives to tone down the racial rhetoric, they will not be able to stop themselves. The idea of a black man beating their Republican candidate for the presidency will be too much to bear for the party of the Southern Strategy." -Oliver Willis
"McCain’s misguided role model on deficit reduction." ... [When John McCain was asked how he was going to live up to his vow to balance the federal budget, McCain ducked the question and responded with the Voodoo economics of Republican Reagan. Steve Benen responds:] "... citing Reagan as a model for deficit reduction is remarkably foolish. The deficit tripled under Reagan, and at the time, his deficits were the largest in American history. If he’s McCain’s standard for responsible budgeting, we’re in trouble." ... "Second, McCain hails Reagan’s example for not raising taxes, but this overlooks a key detail — Reagan did raise taxes, several times, to prevent his budget deficits from spiraling out of control and making the national debt even worse. Is McCain prepared to follow Reagan’s lead on this or not? (McCain did take a no-new-taxes pledge on national television a few weeks ago, though he has since said he may not have meant it.)" ... "Third, McCain’s tax plan costs more than $2 trillion, on top of the $400 billion deficits he would inherit from Bush, and yet he still claims he will balance the budget in four years." ... "And fourth, McCain concluded, “I believe we can grow this economy, and reduce this deficit.” This is so utterly foolish, it’s hard to believe a serious presidential candidate would be willing to say it out loud." ... "In just the past couple of months, McCain has been confused about the relationship between taxes and revenues, confused about whether he thinks our current economy is strong or not, confused about why interest rates even exist, confused about his own no-new-taxes pledge, confused about his own Social Security policy, and confused about how he’d pay for yet another round of reckless tax cuts." -Steve Benen
"McCain's lack of candor on reproductive rights: On issues like abortion and sex education, the candidate is neither as moderate nor as principled as some might think." ... "... [John McCain] not only favors overturning the Roe v. Wade decision and curtailing abortion rights but is also opposed to requiring contraceptive coverage by health plans and favors abstinence-only sex education." ... "Even women who described themselves as "pro-life" said that the latter positions cast McCain as a man who is "unrealistic," "out of touch" and "stuck in the past," ...." ... " ... the senator [McCain] declared that he does not merely favor overturning Roe, but supports a constitutional amendment that would ban abortion in almost all circumstances." ... "... {McCain] merely parrots the extremists of the far right, who vainly hope to prevent sex but in fact promote teenage pregnancy -- and abortion as well as sexually transmitted disease -- by blocking contraception and sex education. He simply doesn't care about the toxic effect of these policies on young women." ... "... here is a man who boasts about his hard-drinking, skirt-chasing, macho youth while sanctimoniously lecturing kids about remaining pure." -Joe Conason - read more: abortion news.
McCain Economics, McCain Money, McCain Flip Flop"McCain gives up on his own response to the mortgage crisis." ... "About two weeks ago, John McCain, in a high-profile speech, unveiled his response to the mortgage crisis. Despite the seriousness of the issue, the GOP presidential nominee unveiled a classic YOYO policy: “You’re on your own.” ... "As the New York Times noted shortly after the speech, “The real core of his speech was his argument against government action to help dig distressed homeowners — or the country — out of the mortgage mess…. His suggestion that federal aid might wrongly reward ‘undeserving’ homeowners sounded both mean-spirited and economically naive. And then there is the double standard. He seemed less concerned about the government helping reckless bankers, endorsing its role in preventing the bankruptcy of Bear Stearns.”" ... "Yesterday, in one of the quicker flip-flops in recent memory, McCain reversed course." ... "No word from the McCain camp as to why he no longer believes in the proposal he presented just two weeks ago. It may have something to do with the fact that the senator still doesn’t know anything about economics." -Steve Benen
McCain Health"The dreaded septuagenarian issue. [70+ McCain's age is over 70 years old and he will be 72 in 2009]." ... "... there’s ample evidence that if they [voters] also associate McCain with 72 candles on a birthday cake, it may be a real problem for the Republican campaign." ... "Following up on an item from a couple of weeks ago, no one seems to want to “go there” when it comes to McCain’s age, but voters seem concerned." -Steve Benen
McCain Money, McCain Campaign Finance"McCain Attacked Soros-Funded Dem Effort -- But Soros Gave $300,000 For Legal Defense Of McCain-Feingold." -Greg Sargent "McCain Attacks Soros-Funded Group -- Even Though McCain's Group Took Soros Money, Too." -Greg Sargent
"McCain kicked off board of Project Vote Smart." ... "Mojo blog reports that Project Votes Smart kicked John McCain off its board of directors for refusing to answer the organization's Political Courage Questionnaire:" ... "The ironic thing is that McCain never refused outright, he just kept brushing off the organization on whose board he served since the 1990s." -Lindsay Beyerstein "McCain Gets the Boot From Project Vote Smart." ... "Project Vote Smart, the nonpartisan voter-education nonprofit, confirms today that it has kicked John McCain off its board. Mother Jones reported on Monday that PVS was prepared to make the move due to McCain's nine-month refusal to fill out its Political Courage Test. According to PVS President Richard Kimball, the nonprofit has a rule that bars nonrespondents from serving on its board." -Jonathan Stein
VIDEO: "Countdown: McCain's "100 Years" War. [10 Million year update]" -Keith Olbermann video via Youtube VIDEO: "[McCain's Iraq War.] How do you get to 100 years in Iraq? Six months at a time." -MoveOn.org VIDEO: "Full Court Press." ... "Republicans can see how John McCain's 100 years comments (remember, he said it repeatedly) can be made into an albatross around his neck." ... "Note what he says below at .20 seconds. And then again at 1:20 when he says 1000 or 10,000 years is okay." [Watch VIDEO:John McCain Iraq: "100 years, or a 1,000 years, or 10,000 years" in Iraq. McCain: "There's going to be other wars".] -Josh Marshall "100 Years." ... "... McCain genuinely believes that there is no level of resources which would be too great for the United States to invest in his futile quest for some ephemeral concept of "victory" in Iraq. There's no amount of money that's too much to spend, there's no amount of time that's too long, and there's no amount of American deaths that's too many." ... "Of course McCain hopes it doesn't take 100 to achieve that end state. But since his vision of the end state is utterly unrealistic (and includes a fantasy vision in which we peacefully organize a 10,000 basing agreement or something) it might as well. Clearly in a literal sense President McCain can't commit us to anything more than eight years of additional war in Iraq, but he's given us no indication that he would pull out any sooner than that, and no reason to believe he can succeed any faster than that." -Matthew Yglesias
"New Book: McCain Once Physically Attacked Fellow Congressman." ... ".... how much of McCain's legendary anger streak does the public actually know? Judging from snippets of Cliff Schecter's new book "The Real McCain" - an advanced copy of which was obtained by the Huffington Post - the answer may be surprisingly little." ... "Take for instance the verbal-turned-physical attack McCain put on his fellow Arizona Republican, Rick Renzi, which Schecter uncovered through his research:" "Perhaps the most remarkable story of McCain's temper involved Arizona Congressman Rick Renzi. Two former reporters covering McCain, one who witnessed the following events and one who confirmed the facts provided by the first, relayed it to me as follows: In 2006, the Arizona Republican congressional delegation had a strategy meeting. McCain repeatedly addressed two new members, congressmen Trent Franks and Rick Renzi, as 'boy.' Finally, Renzi, a former college linebacker, rose from his chair and said to McCain, "You call me that one more time and I'll kick your old ass." McCain lunged at Renzi, punches were thrown, and the two had to be physically separated. After they went to their separate offices, McCain called Renzi and demanded an apology. Renzi refused. Apparently this posture made McCain admire him, as they became fast friends." [Without confirming the specifics McCain aides confirmed this temper outburst against Renzi to The WashingtonPost.]
"... the episode fits into McCain's history of similarly explosive behavior. As Washingtonian magazine documented (and Schecter notes in the book), McCain once "scuffled" with the Senate's then oldest member, Strom Thurmond, during a Senate Armed Service Committee hearing in January 1995. Three years later, the Associated Press article reported that McCain dropped F-Bombs on at least three fellow Republicans." ... ""I'm calling you a f------ jerk!" he once retorted to Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley." ... "And in a opinion piece last year on Salon.com, Sidney Blumenthal, now an adviser to Sen. Hillary Clinton, wrote that McCain once told Sen. Ted Kennedy to "shut up" on the Senate Floor, referred to a fellow Republican as a "shit head" and offered a downright vicious and doubly-offensive joke in 1998 Republican fundraiser about then first daughter Chelsea Clinton." -Sam Stein
McCain Race HistoryVIDEO: "McCain Supporter: "You Can Have Your Tiger Woods"" [John McCain subsequently hugged the supporter without commenting on the "Tiger Woods" reference.] -Youtube video
"Except John McCain Is A Warmonger, Though." -ddayblog "Senator Straight Talk Won't Go on the Record with Project Vote Smart." ... "With no response from John McCain on its survey of issue positions after nine months, the voter-education nonprofit is poised to boot the Arizona senator off its board." ... "For an advocate of straight talk and government transparency, John McCain has been less than clear with a voter-education nonprofit, on whose board he serves, about why he hasn't responded to its survey of issue positions. Now, after nine months, 17 phone calls, and 8 emails asking McCain to state exactly where he stands on key issues, Montana-based Project Vote Smart is poised to kick McCain off its board later this week." ... "Currently, this message appears when you look for McCain's response to the Political Courage Test on the PVS website:" "Senator John Sidney McCain III repeatedly refused to provide any responses to citizens on the issues through the 2008 Political Courage Test when asked to do so by national leaders of the political parties, prominent members of the media, Project Vote Smart President Richard Kimball, and Project Vote Smart staff."
"The point of the exercise is to push candidates to be as detailed in their answers as possible—a prospect that may be unnerving to many politicians who like to preserve wiggle room for future political maneuvering." -Jonathan Stein
McCain Language, McCain Temper"Book: McCain temper boiled over in '92 tirade, called wife a '[WARNING OFFENSIVE LANGUAGE]'." -Nick Juliano [(It should be noted that this anecdote is thinly sourced, the book by Cliff Schecter includes others anecdotes, including anonymous reports of McCain physcially attacking another Congressman.) The crude, demeaning language John McCain is reported to have publicly called his wife is particularly nasty, as this McCain blog has attempted to provide an unvarnished look at John McCain it's currently a dilemma as to whether or not to reproduce McCain's offensive language toward his wife. The foul language McCain has reportedly repeatedly used with colleagues and opponents is offensive as well. Ultimately such outbursts go to McCain's judgement, demeanor, and temperment. While John McCain's explosive anger may be dangerous, perhaps more insidious is his conscious, calculated use of knowingly demeaning language even into his late 60's. That's not the 1960's, but rather that he was over 60 years old and still knowingly using demeaning language. Beyond the profanity, McCain's vulgar language has included using the racist slur "gooks" for decades as well as demeaning a teenaged Chelsea Clinton with an insulting joke that starts with calling her ugly and then gets nastier.]
"1. John McCain voted against establishing a national holiday in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Now he says his position has "evolved," yet he's continued to oppose key civil rights laws."
"2. According to Bloomberg News, McCain is more hawkish than Bush on Iraq, Russia and China. Conservative columnist Pat Buchanan says McCain "will make Cheney look like Gandhi.""
"3. His reputation is built on his opposition to torture, but McCain voted against a bill to ban waterboarding, and then applauded President Bush for vetoing that ban."
"4. McCain opposes a woman's right to choose. He said, "I do not support Roe versus Wade. It should be overturned."" [red emphasis added]
"5. The Children's Defense Fund rated McCain as the worst senator in Congress for children. He voted against the children's health care bill last year, then defended Bush's veto of the bill."
"6. He's one of the richest people in a Senate filled with millionaires. The Associated Press reports he and his wife own at least eight homes! Yet McCain says the solution to the housing crisis is for people facing foreclosure to get a "second job" and skip their vacations."
"7. Many of McCain's fellow Republican senators say he's too reckless to be commander in chief. One Republican senator said: "The thought of his being president sends a cold chill down my spine. He's erratic. He's hotheaded. He loses his temper and he worries me.""
"8. McCain talks a lot about taking on special interests, but his campaign manager and top advisers are actually lobbyists. The government watchdog group Public Citizen says McCain has 59 lobbyists raising money for his campaign, more than any of the other presidential candidates."
"9. McCain has sought closer ties to the extreme religious right in recent years. The pastor McCain calls his "spiritual guide," Rod Parsley, believes America's founding mission is to destroy Islam, which he calls a "false religion." McCain sought the political support of right-wing preacher John Hagee, who believes Hurricane Katrina was God's punishment for gay rights and called the Catholic Church "the Antichrist" and a "false cult.""
"10. He positions himself as pro-environment, but he scored a 0--yes, zero--from the League of Conservation Voters last year."
"EDWARDS: Well, he’s the beneficiary of some great government programs, but in terms of private insurance, he would not be guaranteed coverage under his own plan."
"BRZEZINSKI: Oh, OK."
"EDWARDS: Neither would I or anybody with a pre-existing condition. Imagine how many families that involves across this country." [Watch VIDEO of Elizabeth Edwards's critique of McCain's healthcare proposal.]
VIDEO: "McCain Caught in a Bald Faced Lie About Iraq. One of Many." -McCain video
"Bush and McCain's shared foreign policy approach." ... "Thematically, rhetorically and substantively, McCain's ["major foreign policy"] speech, particularly as it concerned the Middle East, was essentially a replica of the speech George Bush has been giving for the last seven years." -Glenn Greenwald
VIDEO: "[McCain in Iraq: 100 years, 1,000 years, 10,000 years....]" -TPMtv "Just How Did John McCain Obtain What He Has in the Bank with the Press?" ... ""Maybe Iran is training Al Qaeda is McCain's way of signaling that he intends to pick up where Bush and Cheney left off in discarding the whole reality-based approach to policy-making and public communication."" ... "NBC’s political director, Chuck Todd, said it this week: “Even if he gets dinged on the experience stuff, ‘Oh, he says he’s Mr. Experience. Doesn’t he know the difference between this stuff?’ He’s got enough of that in the bank, at least with the media, that he can get away with it.”" ... "He’s got enough of that in the bank. This phrase made people wonder what kind of depositary institution we were talking about. (The immediate occasion was McCain’s strange assertion on March 18 that Al Qaeda in Iraq was being trained by the Iranians.)" [note that Al Qaeda is SUNNI and naturally antagonistic to SHIA Iran, McCain's repeated assertions of Iran training Al Qaeda is a severe failure in understanding basic Middle East military intelligence.] "To understand Chuck Todd’s strange phrase, “in the bank,” we have to start at the source of McCain’s presumptive credibility with journalists. It’s not in any demonstrated mastery of subject matter—on the Middle East, foreign policy, military doctrine, or terrorism—but rather his ease and sense of command during question time with the press, especially as an underdog candidate aboard his bus, the Straight Talk Express." ... "It was never that he was such a straight talker, although he was more willing to criticize his own party than other Republicans. Mostly, he was an open talker, unafraid of the risks, permitting reporters hours and hours of on-the-record Q & A, something that just didn’t happen with other candidates and their tightly controlled scripts." -Jay Rosen
- "Kevin Drum at Washington Monthly: “Remind me again: where does all this cred come from?”"
- "Glenn Greenwald at Salon: “Whether McCain’s foreign policy views are entitled to respect is something that the voters ought to be deciding in the election.”"
- "Steve Benen’s Carpetbagger Report: “Reporters have already made up their minds — McCain knows his stuff, even when he doesn’t, and all reporting on the senator’s campaign will be refracted through that agreed upon prism.”"
- "One of Greenwald’s readers, ramoncreager: “Really, what kind of bank is Mr. Todd talking about?”"
- "Liz Cox Barrett for the Columbia Journalism Review: “When should the campaign press cut a candidate some slack when he or she says something (more than once) that is not true? Never is probably a good rule of thumb. But when will the campaign press give a candidate said slack? When the candidate is Sen. John McCain and the ‘something said’ involves foreign policy.”"
"Graham Claims McCain ‘Has Never Said That This War Would Be Easy’." ... [except that John McCain had said that the Iraq War would be easy. John McCain:] "“Because I know that as successful as I believe we will be, and I believe that the success will be fairly easy, we will still lose some American young men or women.”" [CNN, 9/24/02]" ... "“But the point is that, one, we will win this conflict. We will win it easily.” [MSNBC, 1/22/03]" ... [John McCain's military judgement the Iraq War:] "“We’re not going to get into house-to-house fighting in Baghdad. We may have to take out buildings, but we’re not going to have a bloodletting of trading American bodies for Iraqi bodies.” [CNN, 9/29/02]" ... "“There’s not a history of clashes that are violent between Sunnis and Shias. So I think they can probably get along.” [MSNBC, 4/23/03]" [red emphasis added] -ThinkProgress.org
McCain Economics"McCain flounders, reads teleprompter on big economic speech." ... "The real whopper is when McCain calls for easing "regulatory, accounting and tax impediments to raising capital." Really? And here I was thinking that the lack of regulation has been critical to the runaway credit problem. The last thing we need is less regulation or more tax incentives for this group. Why would we ever make it easier for the industry that is dragging down the entire US (and probably global) economy? Don't journalists ask questions these days or will they just let McCain read scripts written by economists who created these problems?" -AmericaBlog
McCain Campaign Finance"Holding McCain Accountable For Campaign Finance Violations." ... "The hypocrisy of the so-called "maverick" violating a law which he championed because it suits his purposes this time around is horrifying. Even worse is the relative silence of the press on this, given the rank hypocrisy of violations of McCain's "signature" issue and all. Does it get to be your signature issue if you are blatantly violating it in an in-your-face maneuver after being warned not to by the head of the FEC? I think not." ... "If the press isn't going to ask the necessary questions, then we have to do it ourselves. You can join in, too -- sign your name to the complaint here." -Christy Hardin Smith "“John McCain is a campaign finance criminal who is flouting the very regulations he championed.” Sign the McCain FEC complaint." -Americablog
McCain Money Lobbyists"Media advance myth of McCain as lobbyist foe." ... "Summary: Various media figures and reports have helped perpetuate the myth of Sen. John McCain as a straight-talking maverick who is feared by lobbyists and representatives of special interests. But McCain's campaign reportedly has more current and former lobbyists on staff or as advisers and more current and former lobbyist fundraising bundlers than any other candidate." ... "Even before the start of his current campaign, McCain was reportedly "court[ing]" lobbyists in preparation for a presidential run. The Hill reported on March 8, 2006, that "lobbyists say that McCain has been reaching out to K Street [the downtown Washington, D.C. Avenue where many lobbyists and lawyers have offices] to strengthen his national fundraising network." The Hill also reported that "prominent lobbyists" say McCain was engaged in "a quiet effort by his political team to court inside-the-Beltway donors and fundraisers in preparation for a possible 2008 presidential run." In a February 3, 2007, National Journal article (retrieved from Nexis), Peter H. Stone and James A. Barnes reported that McCain and Mitt Romney are "working overtime to line up influential allies on K Street who can deliver supporters and campaign cash," citing as examples that on "January 22, David Girard-diCarlo, the chairman of Blank Rome, which is headquartered in Pennsylvania, escorted McCain to Pittsburgh and Harrisburg to meet with influential donors and fundraisers. And on January 31, the senator attended a Capitol Hill luncheon at the Monocle restaurant that drew two dozen trade association leaders and potential allies." Stone and Barnes added that in "2005, then-Sen. George Allen of Virginia generated a lot of enthusiasm among GOP lobbyists. By the middle of last year, however, Allen's allure had ebbed, and many GOP clout merchants began to see McCain as their best shot to hold the White House in 2008."" -MediaMatters.org
McCain Economics"John McCain on the Housing Crisis — No Help for Homeowners." -Steven Reynolds
"McCain’s Health Plan: Freedom To Pay More — And Get Less." ... "When McCain says he wants to improve quality, he means that he wants families to pay more out-of-pocket for care by enrolling them in Health Savings Accounts (HSAs), preferred-tax savings accounts than can be used by individuals and families to pay for deductibles as high as $5,000." ... "... a recent survey found that those in HSAs have are more dissatisfied as compared to those with traditional insurance. There are so many problems (read Jeanne Lambrew’s piece on what “Conservative Health Reform” means) with HSAs, one advocacy group has created a library of critical papers." ... "So who wins from such a radical plan? That’s easy. HSAs are very lucrative for insurance companies for the simple reason that the individual bears much more of the cost and risk for care. The McCain health plan isn’t about improving quality. It’s about supporting the insurance industry." -ThinkProgress.org
MCCAIN: It's common knowledge, and it's been reported in the media, that Al Qaeda is going back into Iran and receiving training and are coming back into Iraq from Iran.
FOX: Except that Al Qaeda in Iraq is largely Sunni, and Iran's government is largely Shia. After a whispered reminder from Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberamn, McCain immediately corrected himself.
MCCAIN: I'm sorry. The Iranians are training extremists. Not Al Qaeda.
"McCain Received [European] Defense Firm Cash After Backing Its Contract." -Sam Stein
VIDEO: [McCain gets agitated when asked about reported conversations he had (and at some point reoprtedly claimed he hadn't had) with 2004 Democratic Presidential Candidate John Kerry about being Kerry's Vice President.] -Interview with John McCain on YouTube
VIDEO: "Rod Parsley: McCain's Anti-Gay "Spiritual Guide"." -Right Wing Watch [The angry bigoted extremist Rod Parsley is John McCain's "spiritual guide."] VIDEO: "Rod Parsley, McCain's "Spiritual Guide" (Extended)." ... "Last week John McCain campaigned alongside Ohio televangelist Rod Parsley, who has perfected the "Patriot Pastors" model of church-based political organizing." -Right Wing Watch
VIDEO: "McCain Can't Quit John Hagee." ... "There's been a lot of chatter over the last few days about John McCain's embrace of Pastor John Hagee, who's well-known for a history of anti-Catholicism and claims that God will send terrorists to create a "bloodbath" in America for its support of a two state solution in Israel/Palestine." TPMtv
McCain Military Judgement, McCain Economics, McCain HealthcareVIDEO: "McCain: McSame as Bush." ... "On Iraq ... McSame as Bush." ... "On the Economy ... McSame as Bush." ... "On Energy ... McSame as Bush." ... "On Healthcare ... McSame as Bush." ... "McCain: McSame as Bush." -DoubleTalkExpress
"John McCain Gets a Zero Rating for His Environmental Record." ... "... out of 535 Members of Congress, John McCain is the only one who chose to miss every single key environmental vote last year." ... "And here's the kicker -- at least two Members who DIED during the term outscored McCain." -Josh Dorner
VIDEO [music satire]: "Bush, McCain - So Happy Together." -Youtube
VIDEO "McCain: ‘It Doesn’t Matter’ If Indicted Congressman Renzi Is Still Part Of My Campaign." -ThinkProgress
"John McCain and the Rick Renzi 35-Count Indictment." ... "In 2006...." ... "... [McCain] praised Mr. Renzi's "honesty and integrity." McCain was so impressed by Mr. Renzi's virtuousness that he recruited him to serve as the co-chair of his presidential campaign in his home state." ... "... [This week] a federal grand jury indicted Congressmember Renzi on 35 counts of corruption, fraud, money laundering, extortion and other crimes." -Joseph A Palermo
"JOHN McCAIN'S IDEAS." ... "Whatever else you can say about McCain, "new thinking" pretty clearly isn't part of his appeal. On foreign policy, he's for the status quo squared. His only real problem with George Bush is that he hasn't been militaristic enough. And on domestic policy he's practically famous for not paying attention to much of anything beyond his two or three pet issues. If running for president requires him to embrace Jerry Falwell, swear fealty to supply-side tax drivel, and repudiate his own immigration plan — well, he's perfectly willing to do it. As near as I can tell, he really doesn't care enough about any of this stuff to think it's worth standing up against." -Kevin Drum
VIDEO "McCain: Vladimir Putin is the President of Germany?" ... "On Saturday (2/17/07) in a Town Hall Meeting in Des Moines, IA John McCain wrongly stated that Vladimir Putin is the President of Germany. Vladimir Putin is in fact the President of Russia." -McCain Youtube video
"Senator McCain Condemns Torture -- But Votes Against the Bill That Would Prevent It." ... "If Senator McCain believes that there are particular "enhanced" techniques that are not in the Field Manual, but that are also not torture or cruel treatment, and wishes to allow the CIA to use them, he should identify what they are, and offer legislation that would authorize those, and those only, techniques, in addition to those listed in the Field Manual. Otherwise, despite all his worthy efforts in this area, Senator McCain is now facilitating the CIA's use of techniques that are unlawful, including some that are torture even by Senator McCain's own lights. (For more on why the various CIA techniques are unlawful, see the Human Rights First Report "Leave No Marks." [PDF])" [emphasis added] -Marty Lederman
"McCain Skipped [Economic] Stimulus Vote, Other Senators On His Plane Returned To The Floor In Time." ... "Yesterday, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) skipped the Senate’s vote on the economic stimulus package, which fell just one vote short of the 60 needed to end debate." ... "It was deliberate." ... "McCain’s move was certainly not a profile in courage." -ThinkProgress.org
"McCain Caves To Far Right, Skips Vote On Economic Stimulus That He Promised To Support." -ThinkProgress.org
VIDEO: "McCain's "Spiritual Guide" on "Black Genocide." ... "A sermon version of Parsley's argument that reproductive health providers are "systematically" trying to "exterminate" African Americans --- plus a get-out-the-vote message." -Right Wing Watch "Dobson: I Will Never Support McCain." ... "" -Eric Kleefeld
"Why is McCain Stealing Music From Democrats? John Mellencamp isn't Flattered." -DWT
"Lobbyist-Express, Not Straight-Talk Express, Drives McCain Campaign." -Demorats
"McCain Top Aide [Lobbyist] Linked To Suspected Russian Mob-King, Arranged Meeting With Senator." ... "A top political adviser in Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign helped arrange an introduction in 2006 between McCain and a Russian billionaire whose suspected links to anti-democratic and organized-crime figures are so controversial that the U.S. government revoked his visa." ... "Rick Davis, who is now McCain's campaign manager, helped set up the encounter between McCain and Russian aluminum magnate Oleg Deripaska in Switzerland during an international economic conference. At the time, Davis was working for a lobbying firm and seeking to do business with the billionaire." -WashingtonPost via -HuffingtonPost.com see also: Rick Davis
VIDEO: "McCain: More wars (yet again)." -John McCain on Youtube
"The role of political reporters [McCain's media base]." ... "At The New Republic's blog, Jason Zengerle confesses what is and has long been too obvious to require much proof -- the media is uncontrollably in love with John McCain. And Zengerle's reason why this is so is equally unsurprising: McCain gives them unfettered access, so they love him. Everything is about them, and whichever politician flatters and charms these adolescent, coddled narcissists is the recipient of their uncritical love (that explains much, though not all, of their profound failure in covering the Bush campaigns and administration)." -Glenn Greenwald
VIDEO: "[McCain's "Spiritual Guide"] Rod Parsley on Hate Crimes Law." ... "Rod Parsley discusses the proposed hate crimes law, claiming falsely that it would ban speech, religious expression, or even thought. "The next person charged with a crime could be me, or your pastor, or your grandmother, or maybe YOU."" [McCain's "Spiritual Guide" is talking about protecting his right to be VIOLENTLY bigoted, the law he's decrying does not prevent him from continuing his virulently bigoted sermons, it would only add additional punishments for VIOLENCE.] -Right Wing Watch
"Nixon's Jew Count: the Whole Story!" ... "Among the previously untranscribed conversations is President Nixon's historic inquiry into a topic unrelated to Daniel Ellsberg's leak: How many Jews were employed at the Bureau of Labor Statistics?" ... "Kenneth J. Hughes, the Miller Center's Nixon tapes editor, has kindly furnished Slate with the memo traffic concerning the Jew count, including a never-before-published memo by White House personnel director Fred Malek confirming the planned transfer of three Jews to less-visible jobs and the effective demotion of a BLS deputy with a Jewish-sounding surname. Malek, today a very wealthy investor, remains active in Republican politics; this past April, he was named national finance co-chair of John McCain's presidential campaign." -Timothy Noah
"More Lobbyists On McCain Staff Than Any Other 08 Candidate." ... "On March 7, 2007, McCain named ex-Texas Representative Tom Loeffler, who has one of the most lucrative and influential practices in the nation's capital, as his campaign co-chair. In the same month, McCain named former Washington Sen. Slade Gorton, now a heavyweight lobbyist, as his honorary chairman for Washington state." ... "Loeffler's client list includes PhRMA, the drug industry association; Southwest Airlines; Toyota; and Martin Marietta. Gorton represents, among others, Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp., Weyerhaeuser and Fidelity National Financial." ... "In addition, David Crane, now the campaign's senior policy advisor, was a senior executive at The Washington Group, a firm with 2006 billings of $10.4 million and 52 clients, including Delta Airlines, the Association of American Railroads, and the governments of Panama and Bangladesh. And Charlie Black, who is now a campaign spokesman appearing on McCain's behalf on radio, television, and as a "spin-doctor" after debates, is chairman of BKSH & Associates, with lobbying billings of $7.6 million in 2006, representing J.P. Morgan, Occidental and General Motors." ... "All told, there are 11 current or former lobbyists working for or advising McCain, at least double the number in any other campaign. Among the current and former lobbyists working for McCain are: Campaign CEO Rick Davis, a partner at Davis Manafort, where his clients have included SBC Communications and Verizon; and former Davis Manafort associate, National eCampaign Director Christian Ferry. At the end of 2006, Mike Dennehy, who founded The Dennehy Group, a New Hampshire lobbying firm, was appointed McCain's national political director." -Thomas B. Edsall
VIDEO: "McCain: Vladimir Putin is the President of Germany?" ... "On Saturday (2/17/07) in a Town Hall Meeting in Des Moines, IA John McCain wrongly stated that Vladimir Putin is the President of Germany. Vladimir Putin is in fact the President of Russia."
VIDEO: "McCain on various issues."
"The fighting side of McCain: Hitching his political wagon to Bush has hurt the senator's chances to become president. But as his political colleagues can attest, it's the Republican front-runner's volatile temper that may derail his Straight Talk Express for good." ... [John McCain] "... a volatile man with a hair-trigger temper, who shouted at Sen. Ted Kennedy on the Senate floor to "shut up," called his fellow Republican senators "shithead," "fucking jerk," "asshole," and joked in 1998 at a Republican fundraiser about the teenage daughter of President Clinton, ... [] ... As recently as a few months ago, McCain suddenly rushed up to a friend of mine, a prominent Washington attorney, at a social event, and threatened to beat him up because he represented a client McCain happened to dislike, and then, just as suddenly, profusely and tearfully apologized." -Sidney Blumenthal
"John McCain’s War On Blogs." ... "Now he has introduced legislation [PDF] that would treat blogs like Internet service providers and hold them responsible for all activity in the comments sections and user profiles. Some highlights of the legislation:" "– Commercial websites and personal blogs “would be required to report illegal images or videos posted by their users or pay fines of up to $300,000.”"
... "Kevin Bankston of the Electronic Frontier Foundation notes that this proposal may be based more “on fear or political considerations rather than on the facts.”" -ThinkProgress.org
"– Internet service providers (ISPs) are already required to issue such reports, but under McCain’s legislation, bloggers with comment sections may face “even stiffer penalties” than ISPs."
"FLASHBACK: McCain Predicted ‘Progress’ In Iraq ‘A Year From Now’ If ‘We Stay The Course’." ... "On November 12, 2006 he told NBC’s Tim Russert “I believe that a lot of Americans trust my judgment on issues such as [Iraq].”" ... "Here’s what McCain said almost exactly a year ago:"[2005/12/08]" -ThinkProgress.org
"“I think the situation on the ground is going to improve. I do think that progress is being made in a lot of Iraq. Overall, I think a year from now, we will have made a fair amount of progress if we stay the course. If I thought we weren’t making progress, I’d be despondent.” [The Hill, 12/8/05]"
"McCain Hires Key Falwell Staffer For Presidential Campaign." ... "In 2000, John McCain called Jerry Falwell an “agent of intolerance.” Now, he has hired the debate coach from Falwell’s Liberty University, Brett O’Donnell, to advise him on his communications strategy." -ThinkProgress.org
VIDEO: "McCain "Stay the Course"." McCain: "We've got to stay the course and I believe that's what President Bush is committed to." [It isn't clear when the ABCNEWS interview took place, it may have been the 2004 October 24th ABC This Week interview.]
John McCain spoke at Jerry Falwell's Liberty University on Saturday, May 13th. VIDEO: [Jerry Falwell, two days after the 9/11 terrorsit attacks: On September 13th, 2001 Jerry Falwell claimed God allowed the terrorist attacks on America "to give us probably what we deserve." Falwell went on to say, "I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way, all of them who have tried to secularize America. I point the finger in their face and say 'you helped this happen.'" Pat Robertson responded, "Well, I, I totally concur."]
"Maverick -- or panderer?" ... "This weekend, he [John McCain] is scheduled to deliver the commencement address at Liberty University, the Virginia higher education institution where Jerry Falwell [who McCain had once called an "agent of intolerance" and with whom McCain now seeks support for a 2008 Presidential election bid] molds young minds. At that happy event the Arizona senator will share the podium with Family Research Council president Tony Perkins, who has publicly mocked McCain's reputation for "straight talk" and questioned his commitment to the "sanctity of marriage."" -Joe Conason
"McCain Backs "Intelligent Design"." ... "In an interview with Arizona Daily Star editors, Sen. John McCain endorsed teaching "intelligent design" in the nation's schools because "he believes 'all points of view' should be available to students studying the origins of mankind."" ["Intelligent design" repudiates the theory of evolution. "Intelligent design" has no scientific evidence to support it and has been used by creationists to have creationism (God) included in the science class. The Arizona Daily Star sums it up as: "The theory of intelligent design says life is too complex to have developed through evolution, and that a higher power must have had a hand in guiding it."] -Taegan Goddard
"John McCain just won’t stop lying. When will your brave “spokesmen” make him? " ... "SENATOR BULLROAR WON’T STOP: Senator Bullroar (sorry—John McCain) just won’t stop his public lying about the Social Security program. Yesterday, the press corps darling appeared with George Bush at an Albuquerque town hall event. In this morning’s Washington Post, Michael Fletcher records Bullroar’s misconduct:" "FLETCHER (3/23/05): McCain also challenged opponents of Bush's plan, including the advocacy group AARP, to enter negotiations on Social Security. He said they are recklessly minimizing the fiscal problems looming for the nation's retirement system." ... ""Some of our friends, who are opposing this idea, say, 'Oh, you don't have to worry until 2042.' We wait until 2042, when we stop paying people Social Security?" he asked.""As Fletcher and McCain know perfectly well, there is no projection under which we will “stop paying people Social Security” in the year 2042. According to the SS trustees, the system’s trust fund will finally be exhausted that year, after which we will be able to pay 73 percent of promised benefits. (The CBO says the trust fund will last until 2052, with 78 percent payment to follow.) Yes, even the endlessly misinformed McCain surely knew that yesterday’s statement was false. But then, he’s been making baldly false statements for months as he discusses Social Security. Senator Bullroar, the press corps’ darling, refuses to rein in this conduct." ... "And because this great man is a great press corps darling, the press corps just won’t make him stop. This morning, Fletcher doesn’t bat an eye as he types up Bullroar’s misstatement; nowhere are the Post’s readers told that McCain’s statement is blatantly bogus. Nor will other reporters flag the great man’s groaning misstatements. In today’s New York Times, for example, Anne Kornblut reports the Bush-McCain event. She saw McCain make this blatant misstatement—but she doesn’t mention it in her piece. Under current rules, it’s OK to lie in the public’s face—if your name is George Bush or John McCain." -DailyHowler.com
"John McCain, Hypocrite [Reform Institute]." ... "John McCain, the media's darling, has found a clever way around his own campaign finance reform law to take big corporate bucks in furtherance of his political ambitions while carrying water for the corporate mammoth providing the dough." ... "The Associated Press first ran the story of John McCain's odorous but lucrative Senatorial service to the communications giant Cablevision on the afternoon of March 7." ... "McCain repeatedly intervened on behalf of a policy Cablevision favored -- one which "congressional and private studies conclude could make cable more expensive" -- while his chief political adviser, Rick Davis (who's masterminding McCain's probable '08 presidential rerun) solicited $200,000 in contributions from Cablevision to an institute that promotes McCain and pays Davis a $110,000 annual salary." ... "The Reform Institute was set up to promote McCain and his issues--especially campaign finance reform, embodied in the famous McCain-Feingold law. This Institute is "a tax-exempt group that touts McCain's views and has showcased him at events since his unsuccessful 2000 presidential campaign," and it "often uses the senator's name in press releases and fund-raising letters and includes him at press conferences," the AP says. And, of course, it provides a cushy sinecure with no heavy lifting for McCain's main man, Davis, as he prepares the pontificating Senator's next presidential run. Cablevision's contributions account for a whopping 15% of the Institute's budget." ... "The AP investigation found that McCain's assiduous services to Cablevision included "letting its CEO testify before his Senate committee, writing a letter of support to the Federal Communication Commission, and asking other cable companies to support so-called a la carte pricing." Davis solicited the first of two $100,00 installments Cablevision paid to McCain's pet Institute just "one week after [the conglomerate's chief, Charles] Dolan testified before McCain's Senate Commerce Committee in May 2003 in favor of a la carte pricing. And it wasn't until after Cablevision paid up that McCain intervened on behalf of the policy the company sought with the FCC." -Doug Ireland
"When John McCain made wild misstatements, Stephanopoulos praised his “straight talk:”" ... "Consider George Stephanopoulos’ world-class fawning on Sunday’s This Week." ... "The weak fellow’s guest was John McCain. Try to believe—just try to believe—that a major host actually said it:" "STEPHANOPOULOS (2/6/05): Okay, let's turn to Social Security. Two straight-talk questions right at the top...""Good God! Two “straight-talk” questions? Knowing McCain’s favorite term of self-praise, Stephanopoulos started by pimping it for him! Result? Thirty seconds later, the ol’ straight-talker was bull-sh*tting right in George’s face:""MCCAIN (2/8/05): I haven't seen the specific outlines, but I'm certainly with [Bush] in principle. I think that for us to wait 'til 2042 when it's completely bankrupt would be crazy. I think in 2018 if we're going to wait 'til even then, then we’re going to be faced with some stark choices, none of which are acceptable...""Say what? No, McCain didn’t read the script about UFOs. But there is no projection according to which SS will be “completely bankrupt” in 2042—or at any other point, for that matter. (According to the CBO, the system will pay full promised benefits until the year 2052.) And what could the famous straight-talker mean when he said there will be “no acceptable choices” as early as 2018? According to the gloomy projections of the SS trustees, that’s the year when payroll taxes start to bring in slightly less than SS needs to pay in benefits. But the system’s trust fund will make up the difference until the middle of the century. Here’s an “acceptable choice” for 2018: Congress can simply pay back the money it borrowed from Social Security, as Congress said—as John McCain said—it would do back when the money was borrowed." ... "Try to believe that this occurred even after McCain’s first misstatements:""STEPHANOPOULOS: Final straight-talk questions: What kind of benefit cuts should future retirees expect?""Good God! Even after McCain’s original misstatements, Stephanopoulos was still pimping his “straight-talker” slogan for him. And McCain responded with more bizarre claims—about the scary year 2018, and about “the system going bankrupt over a short period of time.”" ... "Do you see why it’s easy to disinform voters with “journalists” like Stephanopoulos around?" -DailyHowler.com"MCCAIN: I think it depends on when we do it. And, first of all, those who oppose this, my question is, is what is your answer? We wait 'til 2018 then we're gonna either cut benefits, raise taxes or some combination of both. I predict to you that this great national debate needs to go on. I think the president is very appropriately trying to address it now, but the opponents owe the American people an alternative solution besides the system going bankrupt over a relatively short period of time."
"NBC's Brian Williams let McCain falsely claim that Social Security trust fund will have "no money at all left" in 15 years." ... "NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams failed to correct Senator John McCain's (R-AZ) false assertion that the Social Security trust fund will have "no money at all left" in 15 years in an interview following President Bush's February 2 State of the Union address." ... "From NBC's February 2 post-speech coverage:""McCAIN: I think he [President Bush] made the strong argument for personal savings accounts, and also I think he did point out that -- look, we could wait until 15 years from now when there's no money at all left in the Social Security trust fund, but I don't think we want to wait till then --""As Media Matters for America previously noted, Social Security's board of trustees estimated in its 2004 report that the Social Security trust fund will not be exhausted until 2042, or 37 years from now, if no changes to the system are made. Even then, the report continued: "Present tax rates would be sufficient to pay 73 percent of scheduled benefits after trust fund exhaustion in 2042 and 68 percent of scheduled benefits in 2078." A June 2004 report from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated that Social Security would become insolvent ten years later, in 2052, and also projected that benefits would continue to be paid well into the next century." ... "In 2018, Social Security's promised benefits are projected to exceed the system's tax revenue. At that time, as planned, the government will have to supplement revenues with the Social Security trust fund to meet payment obligations to retirees, but the system will not be insolvent." -MediaMatters.org
VIDEO: [Jerry Falwell, two days after the 9/11 terrorsit attacks:] ""I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way, all of them who have tried to secularize America. I point the finger in their face and say 'you helped this happen.'" Pat Robertson responded, "Well, I, I totally concur."" John McCain subsequently spoke at Jerry Falwell's Liberty University.
"Free Ride." ... "The Washington media love him. Meet the real John McCain." ... "If McCain were to become president, Americans would wake up to more than a commander-in-chief with a prickly temperament and a low boiling point. McCain is a man who carries get-even grudges. He cannot endure criticism. He threatens. He controls by fear. He's consumed with self-importance. He shifts blame." ... "... our newspaper [Arizona Republic] exposed McCain as a liar who used an underhanded political trick." ... "Here is what happened: McCain boasted to my wife and me over lunch in Washington that he had planted complex questions with the Senate Interior Committee chairman to sabotage the testimony of Arizona Gov. Rose Mofford, a Democrat, about the Central Arizona Project, the multibillion-dollar Colorado River water delivery system for Arizona urban areas. When I protested to McCain that the project had enjoyed bipartisan support for nearly 50 years, from conservative Barry Goldwater to liberal Morris Udall, McCain retorted: "I'm duty bound to embarrass a Democrat whenever I can."" ... "When reporters later asked McCain about planted questions, he feigned insult and injury and denied any such ploy. Editors in Phoenix were informed of McCain's deceit. After a news story and editorial appeared, McCain went into meltdown, shrieking on the phone: "I know you're out to get me!" (Several years later, McCain admitted the dirty trick and apologized to Mofford, who was then out of office.)" ... "One of my Arizona neighbors, Dianne Smith, wrote McCain protesting his criticism of Anita Hill in confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas. A widow then in her sixties, Smith was flabbergasted when McCain telephoned her, shouting at her for "questioning my integrity."" ... "Even as he moralizes about corrupt corporate money, McCain rakes in hundreds of thousands of dollars from Washington lobbyists and asks corporations for use of their jets for campaigning. Last year, the Washington Post documented thousands of dollars of donations to McCain's political war chest from K Street lobbyists who do business before the Senate Commerce Committee. McCain himself has acknowledged that he intervenes before regulatory agencies with letters on behalf of campaign donors, but claims he's merely performing a "constituent service"--the same explanation he used when initially defending himself in the Keating Five scandal. As a peevish lobbyist told Newsweek: "He sees no connection between twisting our arms for money and then talking about how corrupt the system is."" -Pat Murphy
McCain Money"Different hero, different war [McCain's first wife: Carol McCain]: John McCain's first wife won't say a harsh word about the man who dumped her. Is she a spineless wimp or a quiet hero?" ... "... McCain, who had once revealed to fellow prisoners of war in Vietnam that he wanted to be president, was restless in 1979. As Navy liaison to the Senate, he didn't have the career momentum he had counted on to propel him into an admiralty and on to the White House. He was 42, mired in stifling ordinariness. (Civilians call it "midlife crisis.")" ... "But McCain was making bold career moves on the home front, hotly pursuing a 25-year-old blond from a wealthy Arizona family -- while married. Carol, his wife at the time, had once been quite a babe herself apparently, until a near-fatal car accident (while her husband was in Vietnam) left her 4 inches shorter, overweight and on crutches. The couple had three children, whom Carol cared for alone while her husband was in Vietnamese prisons." ... "McCain's strategy worked perfectly: After chasing Cindy Hensley around the country for six months, he closed the deal late in the year, had a divorce by February and was married to Hensley shortly thereafter. Bingo! McCain was a candidate for Congress by early 1982, his coffers full, his home in the proper Arizona district purchased." ... "The story is compelling -- and repellent -- for a lot of reasons." ... "But I could not help being fascinated by Carol McCain. What is up with her? And then it occurred to me that what John McCain has benefited from here is the same reward enjoyed by ex-husbands everywhere in the aftermath of bad behavior and take-no-prisoners divorce when the person they are dumping and dumping on is a mother. In particular, a mother who adores her children and is painfully aware of conventional divorce wisdom that says never, ever criticize the departing dad in front of his children. It is an act of maternal suicide." ... "How many women do you know who willfully, in public and even in private, refuse to say an unkind word about the father of their children after divorce? I know many. They are all well-versed in the terrible damage that dissing daddy can do to children, who are fiercely resistant to any information that puts their father in an unflattering light. They also know that a child's reaction to this sort of information is often anger, and a distancing from mom, who covets her relationship with her children even more in the wake of abandonment." ... "The constant tongue-biting, the squelching of the truth, the careful avoidance of history can be brutal and is, in many ways, heroic." -Jennifer Foote Sweeney
"John McCain's racist remark very troubling." ... "On his campaign bus recently, Sen. John McCain told reporters, "I hated the gooks. I will hate them as long as I live." Although McCain said he was referring only to his prison guards, there are many reasons why his use of the word "gook" is offensive and alarming." ... "It is offensive because by using a racial epithet that has historically been used to demean all Asians to describe his captors, McCain failed to make a distinction between his torturers and an entire racial group." ... "It is alarming because a major candidate for president publicly used a racial epithet, refused to apologize for doing so and remains a legitimate contender." -By Katie Hong
"McCain Criticized for Slur: He says he'll keep using term for ex-captors in Vietnam." ... "Arizona Sen. John McCain refused to apologize yesterday for his use of a racial slur to condemn the North Vietnamese prison guards who tortured and held him captive during the war." ... ""I hate the gooks," McCain said yesterday in response to a question from reporters aboard his campaign bus. "I will hate them as long as I live." -C.W. Nevius, Marc Sandalow, John Wildermuth, Chronicle Political Writers
McCain Money, McCain "Keating Five," McCain Economics"Is John McCain a Crook?" ... "In early 1987, at the beginning of his first Senate term, McCain attended two meetings with federal banking regulators to discuss an investigation into Lincoln Savings and Loan, an Irvine, Calif., thrift owned by Arizona developer Charles Keating. Federal auditors were investigating Keating's banking practices, and Keating, fearful that the government would seize his S&L, sought intervention from a number of U.S. senators." ... "Regulators did not seize Lincoln Savings and Loan until two years later. The Lincoln bailout cost taxpayers $2.6 billion, making it the biggest of the S&L scandals. In addition, 17,000 Lincoln investors lost $190 million." ... "In November 1990, the Senate Ethics Committee launched an investigation into the meetings between the senators and the regulators. McCain, Cranston, DeConcini, Glenn, and Riegle became known as the Keating Five." ... "(Keating himself was convicted in January 1993 of 73 counts of wire and bankruptcy fraud and served more than four years in prison before his conviction was overturned. Last year, he pleaded guilty to four counts of fraud and was sentenced to time served.)" ... "Keating raised money for McCain's two congressional campaigns in 1982 and 1984, and for McCain's 1986 Senate bid. By 1987, McCain campaigns had received $112,000 from Keating, his relatives, and his employees--the most received by any of the Keating Five. (Keating raised a total of $300,000 for the five senators.)" ... "After McCain's election to the House in 1982, he and his family made at least nine trips at Keating's expense, three of which were to Keating's Bahamas retreat. McCain did not disclose the trips (as he was required to under House rules) until the scandal broke in 1989. At that point, he paid Keating $13,433 for the flights." ... "And in April 1986, one year before the meeting with the regulators, McCain's wife, Cindy, and her father invested $359,100 in a Keating strip mall." -Chris Suellentrop
"How Cindy McCain was outed for drug addiction." ... "When an attempt to get tough with a whistleblower backfired in 1994, the McCain spin machine went into overdrive, and the candidate's wife confessed to problems the media was already poised to reveal." ... "far from being a simple, honest admission designed to clear her conscience and help other addicts, Cindy McCain's storytelling had been orchestrated by Jay Smith, then John McCain's Washington campaign media advisor. And it was intended to divert attention from a different story, a story that was getting quite messy." ... "It was much more about her efforts to keep that story from coming to light, and the possible manipulation of the criminal justice system by her husband and his cohorts. The irony is that Cindy's secret would have stayed secret if John McCain's heavy-hitting lawyer, John Dowd (of D.C.'s Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld; his most recent claim to fame was serving as co-counsel for fellow partner Vernon Jordan during impeachment) hadn't heavy-handedly pulled out all the stops to protect the McCain family." ... "Dowd tried to get back at the man on Cindy McCain's staff, Tom Gosinski, who had blown the whistle on her drug pilfering to the DEA. But in the course of trying to get local law enforcement officials to investigate Gosinski -- Dowd and the McCains considered him an extortionist; others might call him a whistleblower -- Dowd set in motion a process that would eventually bring the whole sordid story to light. When that maneuver backfired, the McCain media machine went into overdrive to spin the story." ... "His MO [John McCain's modus operandi] is this: Get the story out -- even if it's a negative story. Get it out first, with the spin you want, with the details you want and without the details you don't want." ... "McCain did it with the Keating Five, and with the story of the failure of his first marriage (Cindy is his second wife). So what you recall after the humble, honest interview, is not that McCain did favors for savings and loan failure Charlie Keating, or that he cheated on his wife, but instead what an upfront, righteous guy he is." ... "Candor is the McCain trademark, but what the journalists who slobber over the senator fail to realize is that the candor is premeditated and polished." (1, 2, 3) -Amy Silverman
