Introducing Wrong-Way McCain
This week, Americans were introduced to Wrong-Way McCain. To be sure, it's the same John McCain ("McSame") who would continue the policies of George W. Bush that 80% of Americans believe have put the country on the wrong track. It's also the same "Jukebox John" who has changed his tune 61 times on issues foreign and domestic, including a dizzying 10 times in two weeks back in June. But as he showed repeatedly over the past several days, Wrong-Way McCain is also the Republican presidential nominee who simply can't keep his stories straight.
Whether the result of crass political opportunism, transparent deceit or just plain confusion, on at least 7 occasions this week alone, Wrong Way McCain couldn't remember what he stood for, if anything at all.
Equal Pay. As part of his ongoing (and failing) effort to reach out to women voters, McCain on Friday proclaimed:
"I’m committed to making sure that there’s equal pay for equal work. That there is equal opportunity in every aspect of our society. And that is my record and you can count on it." (video here)
Unfortunately, as with his bogus claims regarding Hurricane Katrina, McCain's record shows just the reverse. In April, Mr. Straight Talk not only skipped the vote on the Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, but announced he would have opposed the bill because it "opens us up to lawsuits for all kinds of problems." The solution for American women, McCain argued then, isn't to fight pay discrimination, but "education and training."
Football Follies. For years, John McCain has told the tale of duping his Vietnamese captors by giving them the names of the Green Bay Packers instead of other pilots in his squadron. As recently as 2005, McCain confirmed for CNN that the account in his memoir Faith of My Fathers and the A&E biopic based on it was accurate.
But on Friday, McCain offered a made-to-order biographical facelift for a Pittsburgh audience. With Pennsylvania and its 21 electoral votes in play (compared to just 10 in Wisconsin, home of the Packers), McCain's story suddenly honored the hometown team. As he told KDKA-TV (video here):
"When I was first interrogated and really had to give some information because of the physical pressures that were on me, I named the starting lineup -- defensive line -- of the Pittsburgh Steelers as my squadron-mates!"
For its part, the McCain campaign rejected suggestions of a Pittsburgh Pander, instead claiming the episode was an "honest mistake" and that "if bloggers want to make fun of John McCain because he forgot which team he used under torture, that is their right."
Phil Gramm and America's "Mental Recession." Earlier in the week, McCain's "Jobs for America" economy road show went off the rails when his chief adviser and UBS vice chairman Phil Gramm declared the economic downturn a "mental recession" and America a "nation of whiners." But while a defensive McCain insisted at a press conference Thursday, "I strongly disagree," on two different occasions earlier this year McCain, too, deemed the recession "psychological."
In June, McCain declared that his born-again support for offshore drilling would have a "psychological impact that I think is beneficial." And back in April, Sigmund McCain told Fox News host Neil Cavuto that his gas tax holiday placebo was just what the doctor ordered for Americans' fragile psyches, if not their pocketbooks (video here):
"I'm very concerned about it, Neil. And obviously the way it's been going up is just terrible. But I think psychologically - and a lot of our problems today, as you know, are psychological - the confidence, trust, the uncertainty about our economic future, ability to keep our own home. This might give them a little psychological boost. Let's have some straight talk, it's not a huge amount of money."
On Thursday, McCain told reporters that Phil Gramm "does not speak for me - I speak for me." That same day, as the Washington Post reported, Phil Gramm was in New York, "where he was meeting with the Wall Street Journal Editorial Board on McCain's economic policies."
First Term Balanced Budget Pledge. McCain's economic woes this week extended to on-again, off-again, on-again promise to balance the federal budget by the end of his first term. After first making the pledge in February to end the red ink by 2013, by April McCain had backed off, claiming "economic conditions are reversed." That same month, his adviser Douglas Holtz-Eakin was targeting 2017, while claiming, "I would like the next president not to talk about deficit reduction."
Alas, on Monday, the commitment that "John McCain will balance the budget by the end of his first term" magically reappeared in his "Jobs for America" document, if not in the abridged statement signed by 300 economists. Luckily (or unluckily) for McCain, no one believes his fuzzy math, anyway. As the New York Times said Sunday of the self-proclaimed "foot soldier" in the Reagan Revolution, "there he goes again."
Insurance Coverage for Contraception. In much the same way McCain fudged his record on equal pay to hoodwink women voters, his surrogate-gone-wild Carly Fiorina on Monday tried to sell a bill of goods when it came to Mr. Straight Talk's opposition to requiring insurance companies which cover Viagra to also pay for birth control.
When a reporter the next day asked his position on the issue, McCain bumbled and stumbled before ultimately claiming he didn't know what it was:
When McCain was asked for his position on the issue, he said - with a nervous laugh - "I certainly do not want to discuss that issue."
The reporter pressed. "But apparently you’ve voted against -"
"I don’t know what I voted," McCain said.
The reporter explained that McCain voted against a bill in 2003 that would have required health insurance companies to cover prescription birth control. "Is that still your position?" she persisted.
During the awkward exchange, with several lengthy pauses, McCain said he had no immediate knowledge of the vote. "I've cast thousands of votes in the Senate," McCain said, then continued: "I will respond to - it's a, it's a…"
(As it turns out, this was hardly McCain's first bout of squeamishness - or amnesia - when it comes to the issues of contraception, abstinence and AIDS.)
Teaching Intelligent Design. As Steve Benen noted last week, McCain's discomfort and confusion regarding evolution and intelligent design is the stuff of legend. "In 2005," Benen wrote, "McCain endorsed intelligent design creationism, a year later he said the opposite, and a few months after that, he was both for and against creationism at the same time."
In an interview with the New York Times on Sunday, John McCain again punted on the issue:
Q: How do you feel about teaching evolution in schools?
Mr. McCain: I think, first of all, it’s up to the school boards. That’s why we have local control over education. So my personal view is that children should be exposed to as much as they possibly can so that they can make their decisions and be the best informed. But I really believe that school boards are elected in order to make a lot of those decisions, and I respect their decisions unless they are unconstitutional in some way or, you know.
Q: If you were on a school board, how would you vote?
Mr. McCain: I don’t know, Adam. I’d have to see the proposal, I’d have to see where it lies in the curriculum, I’d have to - I can’t. I’m not running for school board.
Support from Veterans Groups. No area hits closer to home for John McCain then his treatment of - and support from - veterans groups. Having already received credit from President Bush for backing the new GI Bill he opposed, McCain this week mistakenly claimed he enjoyed the backing of all veterans' organizations.
Confronted by a Vietnam veteran at a Denver town hall meeting Monday, McCain insisted (video here):
"I’ve received every award from every major veteran’s organization in America. I received every organization in America their awards...The reason why I have a perfect voting record from organizations like the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the American Legion and all the other veterans service organizations is because of my support of them."
Of course, as ThinkProgress detailed, McCain's record is far from perfect and his support from unanimous among veterans' organizations:
He received a grade of D from the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America and a 20 percent vote rating from the Disabled Veterans of America; Vietnam Veterans of America noted McCain had “voted against us” in 15 "key votes."
As for the American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars - with whom McCain claims to have a “perfect voting record” - both groups vigorously supported Sen. Jim Webb’s (D-VA) GI Bill that McCain tirelessly opposed.
And so it goes. After a disastrous week in which he also called Social Security "an absolute disgrace" and joked about killing Iranians not by bombing them but by using cigarettes of mass destruction, Wrong-Way McCain doesn't know whether he's coming or going. And yet some in the American media can still be trusted to conclude that a week which should have ended his presidential hopes was "won" by John McCain.
which way did he go, which way did he go....
I believe we now have our official nickname for the doddering old fool.
Wrong McWay
he sure is a maverick (of consistency)
I swear McCain's sole purpose is to make Obama (or almost anyone else) look good by comparison.
"juke box john" <--- brilliant.
spero @ 6:
Just to make sure that credit goes where credit is due, "Jukebox John" is the creation of Steve Benen over at the Carpetbagger Report:
"Jukebox John Changes His Tune Every Few Minutes."
You know, we all know that McSame is not the BEST of friends with The Chimp, Turdblossom, et al. Witness the animosity born in 2000 that both sides carried for years! So sometimes when I look at McCain's flaccid run at the presidency, I can almost believe that this run, in a year when just about any GOP candidate was likely to have their ass handed to them (I mean look who the hopefuls were! What a gang of clowns!), was given the neocon blessing as one last humiliation for Johnny Walnuts.
(to make things worse he adopts all of their policies! Nothing like the kissing the asses of your own, personal bullies)
It really doesn't matter what Candidate McCain says ..
"President" McCain would do exactly what his handlers tell him to do, regardless.
A Republican President's ONLY job is to bullshit the people while Republican Operatives do their dirty work.
And his ONLY qualification for Presidency IS his ability to bullshit the people.
Ike was great at it.
Nixon had it going for a while.
Ford did it poorly.
Reagan was fantastic!
Bush Sr .. not so good.
Bush Jr did a great job for several years.
McWrongWay will do the neocons and elites bidding. No matter what he says or does he will be elected or appointed dictator by Bush after the Bush Regime declares martial law. The fact that the polls show Obama just barely ahead of McWrongWay when 80% of the country thinks we are heading in the wrong direction is proof that the fix is in.
Interviewer:: Senator McSimpson, you just said the economy wasn't too bad.
Senator McSimpson: DOH !!
MountainMan23 @ 9:
Excellent points. However, we need to recognized the inroads these "handlers" have made into the Democratic Party. The Republican party is a sinking ship and the rats always seem to recognize it first. They've mostly fled, and they headed straight to the Pelosi/Reid/Bushdog clipper.
fiver @ 12:
Put the Rat-Guards on the mooring and cover the scuppers.
I live in Arizona. We know john mccain. Its crass political opportunism.
Although all else is subject to change upon the exigencies of shifting poll numbers, expediency, and the onset of rapidly going gaga, the fundamental plank upon which McSame's platform rests remains the same.
He wants to become president in the worst possible way.
Bonkers Fist Jab @ 8:
Street corner prostitutes, who would stab each other to death with screw drivers to secure a trick, get along lovingly, so long as business is good.
Yep, that flipfloppery would really hurt ole Weathervane McCain if the Military/Corporate/ProfitMedia were to report on it. Oh, look! Britney just bit the head off of the Tacobell chihuahua!
The New Yorker with its "Muhammed Cartoon" that caused so much controversy in the Arab world after a dutch newspaper published it a few months ago must feel really intellectually fulfilled today. I guess artistic expression and political strategery is one thing, knowledge of history and its consequences is another. So as the BBCs of the world and the Muslim media pick up the story of how Americans struggle to define their potential president (and mock and misunderstand one of their two candidates, because the first impression counts) - ironically on the day when our "national beer" is bought by the Belgians - let's just hope that there won't be any protests and killings in the Arab world and the beer will keep the traditional bitter taste, because after events like that, bitterness is the only feeling that can describe what we do to ourselves, consciously or not.
Hey, it's a hot summer. We need the breezes caused by McCaint's changing directions so frequently.
Histamine @ 14:
You got that right cousin! Back in 2000 and 2004 there were "W" bumper and window stickers as far as the eye can see in old AZ. I've seen only one McSame bumpersticker on the westside of PHX and am seeing quite a few Obama stickers. Yes, I know that it's not scientific but it is something very different from what I used to see here.
I don't think you can give McCain the "Wrong Way" designation without noting that it could just as easily be assigned to Bush or any number of other Republicans. Maybe we should just call them Wrong Way Republicans or the Wrong Way Rightwing.
Obama=HOPE - McCain = NOPE
Yeah Goofy McCain hogging the spotlight.
Bush to lift executive ban on offshore drilling
6 minutes ago
The man has no core. There is no one home.
Or he has senile dementia.
Nice.
L.A. Confidential @ 22:
And he's going to "speak" about it at 130pm (Eastern).
sam @ 18:
Let me see if I got this straight - beer drinking arabs don't like us making fun of McSame?
Unlike the former Senator, I'm not a long-distance video diagnostician. Nevertheless, people importune me to opine on whether Sen. McCain is displaying early symptoms of dementia. Alright, enough, I will pronounce judgment.
No, I don't think so. The cognitive limitations Sen. McCain displays do not appear consistent with early stage Alzheimer's disease or frontotemporal dementia. The first manifestation of Alzheimer's is normally impaired short-term memory integration -- the person will tell the same story twice in two minutes, or forget what you just said, that sort of thing. I haven't observed McCain doing this. McCain's inability to keep Shia and Sunni straight, or to read a teleprompter, is a symptom of a different problem, to wit, he is a dolt. He finished next to last in his class at the Naval Academy, and it's a fair surmise that he would not have graduated at all if his father wasn't a prominent Navy officer. He has always proclaimed that he doesn't understand economics, so it's certainly no wonder that he doesn't understand foreign policy either. He has trouble reading a teleprompter because he has trouble reading, period.
As for saying that he gave his Vietnamese captors the names of the Pittsburgh Steelers defensive line, when has has always said previously that it was the Green Bay Packers offensive line, that's not a sign of dementia either. Only as dementia becomes more advanced does the memory for events in the distant past start to fade. The reason McCain swapped lines is not because he's demented, it's because he's a liar. Of course, he'd have to be pretty stupid to think he could get away with claiming it was the Steel Curtain just because he was in Pittsburgh, when anybody could look it up. Is he really that stupid? Actually a more credible theory is that he became easily confused because he'd made up the whole story in the first place, in other words he never did the Green Bay offensive line trick either.
So, demented? No. A lying doofus? Absolutely.
L.A. Confidential @ 22:
I hope hope hope that someone in MSM will mention the "world's biggest polluter" comment that Bush farted with at the G8 conference and his terrorist fist jabs in the air. Guess I shouldn't hold my breath.
I rrrreally despise him and his little brown noser, McCain.
cervantes @ 26:
A Loss Leader.
This is America
The white guy gets away with everything
no questions asked
But the black guy, you know is guilty of something
secret muslimThe whole thing about Packers and Steelers flap... Goes to show that torture doesn't work. Then, Mr. McCain, if torture didnt' work on you, why should we torture others?
ThunderMonkey @ 30:
Good point.
cervantes @ 26:
Sounds eeriely familiar ...
Noah @ 32:
Reagan's human teleprompter, "Mommie"?
Stupid MSM. You'd think, after McClellan's accusations, they'd want to be ahead of the curve this time. What the hell they teaching them fools in journalism school?
L.A. Confidential @ 22:
Another mental turd by the boosh admin to be put into action. I've eight years of practice, but I predict it will fail miserably.
I have received, over the past couple of weeks, those typical "political junk emails"
pointing the finger at Obama for his flip-flopping. Well, the 61 "flip-flops" listed above
under the CarpetBagger are perfect examples of "talking points" to counter any such
misinformation and should be used by us all when getting in a disCUSSion with those
uninformed on the other side of the aisle..
This is all well and good but I want to know one thing:
Is John McCain white enough?
All aboard the new, improved Straitjacket Express!
Simon White-Thatch Potentloins @ 36:
Probably so, but the real question is: "Is he old enough(upstairs)"?
Said it before and will say it again. McCains a pathological liar. My what tangled webs we weave when at first we practice to deceive!
Obama should be using this in TV spots. Footage of when he is for something and footage of when he is not.
This man is beginning his journey toward senility and he is an out and out liar.
Nowhe has fired his staff. How many times will he do this if he is president?
This is obvious evidence of a deteriorating mind. But since a chickenshit "dead or alive" talking spoon fed buffoon is in office right now, much of the electorate will not hold it against him.
I doubt that drool on McCains chin is from Senility. I rather think it's pure lust for the highest office for which he will take a firm stand on any issue, which side depending on the day of the week.
fiver @ 5:
Actually, this was the best the GOP could do.
It's not like you expect honesty and integrity from the Repubs. When you consider how little value they place on actual intelligence and competence, what kind of guy did you think they would come up with?
They wanted another Dubya Bush. They found him.
Now they're paying for it. That's a good thing. Let them crash and burn. I'll toast marshmallows over the flames.
I don't know if many will appreciate the Wrongway Feldman monicker, but I think it is the most analogous for McCain.
McSame is just trying to prove he's an agent for change by changing his position on the issues more frequently than he changes underwear.
These constant shifts in policy is all the warning one needs to realize McCain is not mentally competent to be the US president.
It's pay back time for occurrences in 2000 . . . McCain is being set up for total humiliation by Bush and his cronies. Enthralled by the possibility of winning the election McCain doesn't see the writing on the wall. Bush games at tax payers expense.
And, uh-oh, there's some more bad news fro McCain courtesy of Wolf (me talk pretty, one day) Blitzer. http://www.tagg-lines.com/2008/07/oh-dear-we-thought-shed-quit-her-drug.html
McCain, McSame... he's becoming more and more like Homer Simpson... D'oh!!!!
McWrong!
Surely McSame should be certified free of either senile dementia or Alzheimers before being alluwed to stand for Preznit.
It doesn't really matter what he says. All they have to do is pull the string that makes him say "tax cuts" and the morons will vote for him.
The fact that Obama is not ahead of McCain (or any republican for that matter) by 60%, is a testimonial to just how cluelessly fucking stupid half of the people are in this country.
I know people who are losing everything: jobs, homes, insurance, can't make the 29% interest payments on their credit cards. Yet, they are still voting republican! It is the most astonishing thing I have ever seen in my entire life.
I am almost embarrassed to be an American right now!
I'm beginning to dislike mccain almost as much as I hate bush, and that is really saying something. Neither of them has an honest bone in their bodies. Two identical, worthless Republican jerks.
I still think McCain's run is just a subtrefuge. He's supposed to lose. He is the big baffoon who makes the other corporatist, anti-constitutional candidate look good by comparison. Even though we will all be getting screwed as we vote for the candidate who was intended to win, we don't feel so bad about it, because we have McCain to remind us it could have been worse. Yet, when all is said and done, there's no difference between the two. It wouldn't matter one iota who wins, because neither is going to be responsive to the will of the people or to Constitutional principles.
McWayWrongMcCain!
And if the McCain campaign wants to define his speaking to a Pittsburgh audience as torture, that's their right, I guess. :^)
Paul @ 54:
Amen.
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