It's the smell of victory...

Isn’t that amazing? A few months ago, Jonah Goldberg writes this vitriolic piece of tripe without a single fact or even a basic high school understanding of sociology and civics and he gets on all the major networks to pimp his fact-free (and really badly written) drivel, especially since he targeted liberals generally and Hillary Clinton specifically. That’s good television, apparently. But Cliff, who is no stranger to TV, can’t find a single outlet willing to take a look at a book that may not show McCain–the Republican candidate for the highest office in the land– in a less than glowing light.

They don't want to influence the election! [snark]

I think calling him "teflon" actually helps his ego and is a dangerous self fulfilling prophecy for Dems. To win this fall I hope Democrats will be much smarter and wiser than the lame effort in 2004 with Kerry.

As long as he loves war, he is AOK with the defense contractors who own the media.

if McCain was a dem what would be the response of the RNC be about him ?

Well, the only proper response to this is to buy some more of those books!

they "protect" him for two reasons: first, they want him to do well in november because close races get more ratings and second, they would rather focus on the black guy and the white woman. 72 year old white guys are so yesterday!

if condoleezza rice was mccain's running mate it would be like a wet dream for the media.

It occurs to me that having Rice as running mate would be unpleasant for racial bigots who want to vote for McCain, but not impossible. Furthermore if Obama is the Democrats' choice then a bigot might rationalize saying that Rice isn't ready for president, but she'll be "in training." Sort of training wheels for the presidency. Far-fetched? Maybe not so.

14All @ 12:

Well, the only proper response to this is to buy some more of those books!

In fact it is true. If the book enjoys popular success (think of this as voting) the msm is a little more hard pressed re not putting Cliff on TV. That said, this was an extremely news-packed week. There is interest already in having Cliff on at least two cable news networks. I'd LOVE to see him up against a McCain surrogate. We shall see.

It will happen. Vote, everyone!!! (That means buy a book--or ten)

And yes I'm working on the book with Cliff to make it a gigantic bestseller. I am indeed.

I think instead of "Teflon John" we should start calling him "Worst. President. Ever. the sequel" or "Warrior King" or more simply "Potty Mouth."

I wish someone would unearth a story that would allow us to call him John John. That would be solid gold.

i remember when pow's were thought of as somewhere between unfortunate and incompetent. now, with mccain they are considered a war hero.

The "liberal" media has been carrying water for Republicans for 8 years if not more. Mainstream media is totally biased against Dems and the left. This is not new. The question is, will anybody figure out how to do an end run around the media before its too late? (again)

tr @ 22:

i remember when pow's were thought of as somewhere between unfortunate and incompetent. now, with mccain they are considered a war hero.

That's right. The guys Rambo rescued were mostly nerds. Puhleeze. If you volunteer as McCain did, and then get your ass kicked in as a POW--you can call yourself anything you like. That is, so long as it is not Mr. President since I'd imagine the PTSD would make such a man unfit to command. Wait a minute!!! McCain is unfit to command. That fits so nicely.

Hm.

But seriously, McCain's military svc is not a great target. His PTSD however might be worth exploration.

Call him:
John McSAME or

Sidney, his middle name.

.

And McCun't got angry when he saw that trollip of a wife, too.

.

yay mcSHIT STAIN! you are america's skid-ridden underwear..my friend.

From BernieHund at Political Watchdog:

New York Times article excerpts from December 22, 1989:

John McCain’s Senate colleagues have just begun to notice how troubled he seems. But his friends back home have been noticing the telltale signs for months.

Normally given to expansive gestures and almost hypertensive movement, he seems, they say, to have visibly shriveled, hunching his shoulders and clasping his arms tightly about his chest as if to ward off blows. And there are the jokes, sarcastic, self-deprecating - funny, but not quite.

So when the Senator rose from the dinner table at Tom and Lupe Espinoza’s home in Phoenix last week for the goodbyes, the guests exchanged worried glances as he started to speak. He thanked the hosts for a lovely meal, for their friendship during ”this difficult time,” and then he tried to lighten the awkward moment.

”You know what Chairman Mao said - It’s always darkest just before it’s totally black.” ….

Mr. McCain and four Democratic Senators are under investigation to determine whether contributions to their campaigns from Mr. Keating influenced their intervenion with Federal regulators in 1987 to try and save his ailing institution.

Mr. McCain has impressed political scorekeepers on Capitol Hill with his mea-culpa defense, admitting that it was a serious error to meet with the regulators. Bolstered by a transcript from one of those two meetings and by statements by the regulators themselves, he has succeeded, at least here in Washington, in putting some distance between himself and senators who went to greater lengths on Mr. Keating’s behalf. ‘Duty, Honor and Country’ ….

I believe in duty, honor and country, and I never thought I’d be embroiled in something like this,” said Mr. McCain, a Navy war hero who was held prisoner in Vietnam. Fumbling for the words, and apologizing ”because it sounds corny,” his explanation is tangled up with family tradition and patriotism, with growing up in the shadow of a father and a grandfather who were four-star admirals.

The Senator began explaining it all in late October after a series of Arizona newspaper articles about his ties to Mr. Keating. The point he is desperate to convey is that he washed his hands of the whole thing once regulators outlined their case against Mr. Keating and his financial institution. Unspoken, but clearly intended as part of the message is that some of his colleagues, including Arizona’s Democratic Senator, Dennis DeConcini, cannot make the same claim. ….

In the same article McCain stated:

”I met him [Keating] in 1981 at a Navy League dinner in Phoenix. He was the state’s largest home-builder, a contributor to every charity in Arizona. He was very pleasant. He told me I was one of his heroes. My wife and I saw him a couple of times that year, and when I announced I was going to run for Congress, I went to him for financial support, and he helped me, in 1982, in 1984 and in my Senate campaign in 1986.”

”In those days, he didn’t want anything from me,” the Senator continued. ”He never asked me for anything of significance until the thing with the regulators.” …

…. Mr. McCain, for reasons he finds difficult to explain, ignored the advice of his staff and attended the meetings anyway…..

”I was very, very concerned about the appearance of the meetings before I went,” he said. ”I’m a big boy. I made the decision.” His first real effort to explain came at a Phoenix news conference a week after The Arizona Republic reported that he and his family had vacationed at Mr. Keating’s home in the Bahamas in 1984, 1985 and 1986, and had only belatedly reimbursed the developer’s company for flights there on the corporate jet.

The paper also reported that the Senator’s wife, Cindy, and her father, a wealthy beer distributor and prominent Phoenix businessman, invested $359,100 from their own comapny in a Keating shopping center partnership in 1986.

…”If this had been just a John McCain story, it would be over by now,” the Senator said. ”But it’s about Keating and it’s about the savings and loan bailout and it’s about campaign finance.

In the end Senator McCain continued his political career and now seeks the seat in the Oval Office. Perhaps, this old news is of little interest, but in a time when the Senator is resting on his laurels from Viet Nam, I do believe it fair to remind ourselves that between the Viet Nam Conflict and now, Senator McCain, while not indicted has not always exhibited the best judgment, particularly in the 1980’s. There is the perception of inappropriate use of his political influence within our government. I’m not sure if Senator McCain believes we should have a more transparent government or perhaps, an opaque one.

Once a crook ....Once a thief.... Once a liar.... Still McCain!

Beau @ 20:

I think instead of "Teflon John" we should start calling him "Worst. President. Ever. the sequel" or "Warrior King" or more simply "Potty Mouth."

I wish someone would unearth a story that would allow us to call him John John. That would be solid gold.

I still like McSame Thanks, Nicole.

I think it's pretty clear by now that McCain is not very bright, and on top of that, emotionally unstable.
I mean, who can knock him for being a bit of a trainwreck after some of the things he's been through?

But hardly the guy you want sitting there with his finger on the trigger, so to speak.

The Corporate/Media/Repiglican/Mafia media's efforts to get their corporate boy McBush installed as the next president so that a government BY AND FOR THE FEW, GREED, CAN BE SUSTAINED please read the following. And, yep, all these 'media elite' tried to hide and conceal the below event from the public. It could not be more clear what is happening.

*******************

THE HAPPY BIRTHDAY EXPRESS: “I honestly don’t know what to say about this.” Those were Brother Greenwald’s words when he posted the videotape of the press corps’ recent fete at John McCain’s crib in Sedona. For ourselves, we recalled a grander affair, conducted during the 2004 Republican convention in New York. A certain saint threw himself a birthday bash—and darlings, forget about Holly Bailey! When the sanctified solon turned 68, the firmament’s biggest stars were there! To his credit (explanation below), Richard Leiby did the play-by-play for the Washington Post. This is your press corps on creme brulee—French tarts, loin of lamb, lobster salad:

LEIBY (8/31/04): Sen. John McCain tended to his political base Sunday night: the entire national media. The maverick Arizona Republican, once (and future?) presidential aspirant and press secretary's dream hosted a hyper-exclusive 68th birthday party for himself at La Goulue on Madison Avenue, leaving no media icon behind. Guests included NBC's Tom Brokaw and Tim Russert, ABC's Peter Jennings, Barbara Walters, Ted Koppel and George Stephanopoulos, CBS's Mike Wallace, Dan Rather and Bob Schieffer, CBS News President Andrew Heyward, ABC News chief David Westin, Time Warner CEO Richard Parsons, CNN's Judy Woodruff and Jeff Greenfield, MSNBC's Chris Matthews, CNBC's Gloria Borger, PBS's Charlie Rose—pause here to exhale—and U.S. News & World Report publisher Mort Zuckerman, Washington Post Chairman Don Graham, New York Times columnists William Safire and David Brooks, author Michael Lewis and USA Today columnist Walter Shapiro. They and others dined on lobster salad, loin of lamb, assorted wines, creme brulee, lemon souffle and French tarts.

[...]

One guest, who asked not to be identified, described invitees as "the Journalistic Committee for a Government of National Unity." After singing "Happy Birthday" to McCain, many of the guests—Russert, Borger and Shapiro, among others—cabbed to Elaine's, where Zuckerman hosted a mob scene that included Fox's Bill O'Reilly, PBS's John McLaughlin and New York Gov. George Pataki, The Post's Mark Leibovich reports. By 11 p.m. the Second Avenue landmark—with red carpet outside—was elbow-to-elbow with martini-sipping guests. Thus commenced Campaign 2008 (we think).

Somehow, it was the singing of “Happy Birthday” which always struck us as most wrong: At any rate, free food! And plenty of pandering! And after they sang “Happy Birthday” to Mac, the gang cabbed it up to Elaine’s.

If you don’t understand the press corps’ coverage of McCain, perhaps you can find a hint or two in Leiby’s dispatch.

Last Friday, Jamison Foser did a superlative post about the way this gang of hopeless galoots insists on calling McCain a “war hero”—even when the designation bears no resemblance to the issue at hand. Beyond that, reporters love to work McCain’s “straight talk” slogan into “reporting.” Stephanopoulos sang “Happy Birthday” that night—and soon was asking the saintly solon for “straight talk answers” on ABC’s air. To judge from Leiby’s guest list, E. J. Dionne wasn’t big enough to make the affair at La Goulue (French for “glutton”), but today he describes his ongoing love for the Great McCain—and he shamelessly equates Obama and Farrakhan to McCain and Hagee. It’s hard to be more disingenuous that that, as many others have already noted. But so what? This has gone on for the past dozen years, and may well decide this year’s race.

But readers, back to the birthday brawl! We first posted Leiby’s text in October 2004, after Ted Koppel attended a fete for Colin Powell instead of prepping for a critical Nightline (see THE DAILY HOWLER, 10/19/04).On that date, we offered links to past HOWLER posts which showed the big stars of the mainstream “press corps” at play with the people they “cover.” We saw Russert at Rumsfeld’s Christmas party, bragging that he had foreseen Saddam’s capture. (He had seen it in a dream!) We saw Koppel attending that Powell bash, then failing on that night’s critical program. We saw Gwen Ifill dining with Darling Condi, then rolling over for her gal pal in a major interview.

Yes. This is the way your “press corps” works—though Kevin and Josh and Matt won’t tell you. Sedona was just a suggestion, a cook-out, a small affair thrown for the proles.

By the way—why the praise for Leiby’s report? (It appeared in “Reliable Source.”) Here’s why: The “press corps” didn’t just sing “Happy Birthday” to McCain in 2004—they gave him a subsequent birthday gift. You see, despite the star power at that bash, almost no one reported it! Lloyd Grove did a brief piece in the Daily News, saying McCain had thrown “a smallish dinner” (text below). But almost no one else in the press corps mentioned this event at all. You see, they luvv to do celebrity stories—unless the celebrities involved are themselves. In that case, they know they must hide their behavior—the behavior of their group’s biggest players. The comical story of Jack Welch’s “Lost Boys of the Sconset?” That comical—and revealing—story has almost never appeared in print. Within the clan, housebroken pool boys know they must hide the truth about how the “press” lives and functions.

They sing Happy Birthday to those they adore—and then, they pimp to get them elected. Dionne is pimping again today, just as he’s done in the past. The comparison to Obama is disgracefully fake. But so what? Saint John gets a toast.

Lloyd Grove’s smallish dinner: In the Daily News, Grove seemed to get the scope of things wrong. That said, we don’t mean to criticize Grove. Few others said word the first:

GROVE (8/31/04): McCAIN FOR SOMETHING! The media elite met to eat at La Goulue Sunday at a smallish dinner hosted by media favorite John McCain and wife Cindy.

The buzz was that the press-friendly Arizona senator, who was celebrating his 68th birthday, is considering another run for President four years from now.

"This is like any other trade convention—everybody's talking about what the new power mower might be," quipped McCain ad-maker Mike Murphy. Among the guests were Tom Brokaw, Peter Jennings, Ted Koppel and Dan Rather, Barbara Walters, Jeff Greenfield and even New York Times book critic Michiko Kakutani.

"Oh I see," one diner remarked on surveying the crowd. "It's a party for the base.

That was Grove’s entire item. According to Nexis, this was the second longest account of this heady, newsworthy affair.

On MSNBC, Tucker Carlson described statements on the "pastor's pages" section of Sen. Barack Obama's church's newsletter as "wild," "anti-Israeli statements" and asserted: "I think Obama will feel the need to address that directly fairly soon." But no one mentioned Obama's prior condemnation of his pastor's "views on Israel" and the church's republication of an op-ed by a Hamas official. Read More

The Associated Press quoted Sen. John McCain claiming that Sen. Barack Obama will "raise taxes" on homeowners. In fact, Obama has proposed "at least $80 billion a year in tax cuts to middle-class workers, homeowners and retirees," and specifically called for "extending a mortgage credit to taxpayers who do not itemize, generating about $500 in savings for 10 million people." Read More

Politico's Mike Allen wrote, "It looks like [John] McCain will resist pandering when he speaks later today on the housing crisis." But Allen has yet to note that McCain said he does not think the Federal Reserve acted improperly by extending a $30 billion line of credit to facilitate the acquisition of the near-bankrupt investment bank Be

What I have seen very little reaction to is McC'aint's tax returns. Ken Silverstein did a great piece in Harper's recently,asking the same question. His article reports that the foundation set up by McCain and his wife have donated hundreds of thousands of $ to the elite schools THEIR children attended,but, ONLY $250.00 to Children's Crisis Center in Phoenix for abused and runaway children,and a whopping $50.00 to Neighborhood cancer drive contribution. Can you spell elitist? I hear that McCain has targeted Wal Mart moms as a demographic. Think he'll help them save more and live better?

fiver @ 27:

BitterSmallTownJohnny2Bad @ 21:

iraqhusseinconcilable @ 19:

If there are Pennsylvanians out there that want the spotlight to shine on the real McCain, your task is simple : get out the Obama vote and bury Hillary once and for all . Stop the sideshow and force Grandpa to answer some real questions as he attempts to maintain the Bush legacy at the behest of his puppet-masters.

Gobama! Way to represent the candidate of "hope". Play the ageist/misogyny card. Beautiful.

Kumbaya!

Yeah, he said grandpa, so maybe there's an insult directed at age. But misogyny? Is that really all it takes any more? Anti-HRC is anti-women - automatically. I get that it was a campaign strategy from the start, but it's disappointing to see regular C&L posters buying it so wholeheartedly. Vote Hillary or you hate women! Nonsense.

Nice try but a really bad strawman.

JOHN "THE REPUBLICAN" MCCAIN AND HILLARY "REPUBLICAN LITE" CLINTON ARE OUT OF TOUCH...
WHY ELSE WOULD THEY DEFEND THE WAR...EVER!!! DID SOMEONE SAY THE CLINTONS EARNED $110 MILLION
LAST YEAR.... GUESS THAT $4 GAS IS HITTING THEM PRETTY HARD

I ordered the book and I am waiting for it's delivery. Are people afraid of the Republican party?

It's really true. McCain really is supposed to be the next president.
They are trying to do it again. How can this be true?