'A surprisingly immature politician'
By Steve Benen Sunday Aug 03, 2008 8:00pm
John McCain has always seemed to revel in the sycophantic adulation he’s enjoyed among the media elite, so it’s kind of fascinating to see McCain’s one-time media fans realize that he’s not the man they thought he was.
The first, and probably most notable, was Time’s Joe Klein, who conceded last week that he was wrong to believe McCain is an “honorable man.” Soon after, writing on the inanity of McCain’s attacks against Barack Obama, Klein’s headline read, “The Scum Also Rises.”
It looks like Newsweek’s Jonathan Alter has joined the club, noting with noticeable regret that he “misread McCain.”
In the middle of John McCain’s dopey Britney & Paris attack ad, the announcer gravely asks of Barack Obama: “Is He Ready to Lead?” An equally good question is whether McCain is ready to lead. For a man who will turn 72 this month, he’s a surprisingly immature politician — erratic, impulsive and subject to peer pressure from the last knucklehead who offers him advice. The youthful insouciance that for many years has helped McCain charm reporters like me is now channeled into an ad that one GOP strategist labeled “juvenile,” another termed “childish” and McCain’s own mother called “stupid.” The Obama campaign’s new mantra is that McCain is “an honorable man running a dishonorable campaign.” Lame is more like it. And out of sync with the real guy. […]
McCain is patently insincere when his heart’s not in it, like a little boy who eats his peas when his parents tell him to but remains transparently unhappy about the experience. It’s not clear how committed McCain himself is to this latest assault on Obama. Does he genuinely believe that Obama is an out-of-control egomaniac who thinks he’s Moses? McCain no doubt comforts himself that the ad making that argument — an argument that is beneath a major-party candidate for president — was not part of a big media buy but just chum thrown to the media piranhas via the Drudge Report. […]
On the night of the 2000 South Carolina primary, I was in his hotel suite and watched Cindy weeping over what Rove and his goons did. Her husband was plenty mad, too. Now he’s got Rove’s protege, Steve Schmidt, running his campaign.
Alter concludes that McCain “mortgaged his precious personal honor.” I think that absolutely true, but I still get the sense that even newly-critical McCain detractors are still willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. At least a little.
Alter’s piece is a very good one, so I’m reluctant to criticize it, but his column still argues that McCain is being fundamentally led astray by Republican hatchetmen giving him bad advice.
McCain, Alter argues, is waging a negative and dishonest campaign, but this is “out of sync with the real guy.” McCain may be on the attack, but his “heart’s not in it.” He’s foolishly taking the advice of “knuckleheads.” It’s that darn Steven Schmidt who deserves most of the blame.
I even realize why Alter wants to think McCain is only partially responsible for his ugly turn — if media figures respected and admired McCain, and sang his praises for the last decade, and all the while McCain was really just a shameless Republican hack, playing the media for fools, it’s hard to accept. If, however, McCain is really a great guy underneath, but has been corrupted by a dishonorable and pathetic Republican machine, then there’s some comfort in knowing that reporters hadn’t misjudged his character all along.
But I’m quite certain they did. McCain was playing a role, and the media bought it. Kevin explained quite well the other day why this it’s-not-McCain’s-fault argument misses the mark.
Apparently he’s just a straight talking guy who woke up one morning and found himself mysteriously under the sway of a vile cabal of political hit men and unable to do anything about it.
Enough’s enough. McCain hired Steve Schmidt, he approves the strategy, and he signs off on the ads. If his campaign is mired in sleaze, it’s not happening despite McCain, it’s happening because of McCain. Stop making excuses for him.
Quite right. McCain hired Rove’s operation for a reason: he really wants to be president, and doesn’t much care how he gets there.
It’s nice, I suppose, to examine all of this and think McCain is just the latest good guy to go bad, but I think this is fundamentally flawed. John McCain simply is not a man of strong character.
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Just what we need, Another Puppet President
First post.
And.
Lets also hope that (perhaps along with Barak fighting back) the debates unveil McConstipation's weak arguments and weak character.
DOH! not first :(... xD.
McCain is just another empty sock puppet of the NeoCons, just like Bush. He probably doesn't believe in even half of what he says, but he doesn't care. His lips move in whatever ways the Rovian fingers inside his head do.
McCave has caved in to the Republicans.
I'd say McCain has a great chance with "value voters"...
Once the world's only superpower, both economically and militarily, and the best they can come up with for presidential candidates are this and an empty suit of great speeches? Wow. Just wow. And people are surprised the polls are close? I'm not. This is the last Canadian election Part 2. No leader worth voting for.
John McCain has made a deal with the devil- a lot of Republicans don't like him and they can help him, but it will cost him his dignity and credibility.
He gets a bump now, but he is going to pay in the long run. These are mean spirited school yard attacks that excite the yokels a little bit, but will have the adults shaking their heads. By the first debate, this race will be over.
I'm glad a beltway talking head has finally acknowledged what I've know for months since the infantile "bomb, bomb, Iran" crap.
Apparently Dana Milbank doesn't get it. He will no longer appear on MSNBC, Keith Olbermann said, because of his biased column about Obama and his calling the people that protested it "whiners". WTG Keith!
I'd like to debate Lindsay Graham on the issue of whether or not politicians who vote against gay rights should themselves be closeted homosexuals.
I have a feeling he has some opinions.
Doh! Wrong thread.
“juvenile” “childish” “stupid” …
Yeah, well, that's the way Republican voters like their candidates, and their media for that matter, so none of this is surprising.
Janet @ 11:
Yeah, KO tossed him under the bus at kos:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/8/4/174920/2691/934/562486
Keith will be next if he talks bad about the one.
Janet @ 11:
Good on Keith. Let Milbank, who is really an insolent, arrogant loser get what he richly deserves--obscurity. He is just another media hack with an attitude problem.
You're misreading what's happening here. It's called "saving face." We need to encourage the traditional media in their 'McCain is being misled' myopia. This is the only way the traditional media is going to be able to walk back from the "McCain, the perfect man" love fest. They will (largely) never believe they simply got duped by a smooth talking politician. Joe Klein being a notable and worthy exception.
It serves progressive purposes just as well, and in some ways better, to have McCain portrayed as a doddering, senile old man who's been fooled into handing Rove the keys to the kingdom. We know he's an simpleton opportunist who will do anything to get elected, but large portions of the press will simply never believe that. And it's OK, roll with it. We don't need to mince words on progressive websites, but nor do we need to fret about this particular press reaction to the nasty McCain campaign.
getalife "whiners" @ 15:
There's plenty of you unhinged shillary/McGrampa supporters out there to take care of that.
"We know he’s an simpleton opportunist..."
That's a virtue in Republican circles.
What is with people absolving McCain of responsibility for his sleazy campaign. Andrea Mitchell did it big time today. She said Obama is taking the high road, following his "paradigm" to run a good campaign. She then goes on to say that McCain is a good person and he is not responsible for his campaign. She even goes so far as to say that he is unaware of the dirt on his hands. I guess that McCain is either a prick, or he is a stupid prick.
Note to Dem politicians:
McCain's OWN MOTHER called it "stupid"?
If you can't use that as a blunt instrument, you're hopelessly fucked.
"It’s not clear how committed McCain himself is to this latest assault on Obama. Does he genuinely believe that Obama is an out-of-control egomaniac who thinks he’s Moses? McCain no doubt comforts himself that the ad making that argument — an argument that is beneath a major-party candidate for president"
Actually, that tends to be all I see from major party candidates. Every third party candidate ad I've ever seen focuses on the issues, and that's why they lose. Americans like dirt, whether they like to admit it or not. We are a Jerry Springer nation. Give us dirty laundry and we'll be feeding out of your hands.
Now granted, there is a small (probably less than 5%) of the electorate that is turned off by negative ads. But for the rest of the mouth-breathing masses, they like as much negativity as can be dished out. Which is another reason McCain will, unfortunately, win in November if Obama doesn't step up the attacks back.
That and the voting machines and the MSM constantly harping that there is no real difference between their policies (as if they ever cover their policies). No, instead, the MSM asks us if Obama is too thin to be president. We judge our candidates by how Christian they can claim to be or how much we think we could have a drink with them. We're electing a president of the United States, not a president on a "Christian" frat!
But we have ourselves to blame for this. So long as we believe only major parties can win elections and that we HAVE to vote for incumbents in the primary races, we'll never have real change. The nation groans for a change, but to expect it to come from the two major parties is insane and self-delusional.
But we can't vote for a third party, because then the Republicans might win, and we can't vote for a third party in 2010, because then the Republicans might take back Congress, and we can't vote for a third party in 2012, because then we have to re-elect Obama (or vote out McCain), and we can't vote third party in 2014 because we have to keep the Democratic majority in Congress (or get rid of the Republican majority), etc. etc. etc.
If the events since 2006 haven't taught you anything, they should at least teach you that when it comes to voting, flip a coin, it's all the same no matter the party in power. If Republicans had retained control in 2006, we would still have the new FISA rules further restricting our rights, no chance of impeachment, and no real accountability on the Bush administration. So you got a minimum wage increase, whooptie-doo! A lot of good it will do when CEOs (who pay themselves first) just cut jobs at the bottom or just outsource those jobs to cheaper countries, as they've been doing these last 20+ years.
Aside from that, can you name any particularly significant act by the 110th Congress that either makes things better than the previous 6 years or else protects our Constitutional rights?
It is relatively easy for Jonathan Alter to observe of McCain that he has "mortgaged his precious personal honor". Likewise, Steve Benen correctly notes that "McCain detractors are still willing to give him the benefit of the doubt." One has to wonder why Steve Benen does not also make that same relevant observation regarding Barack Obama. It does not seem to matter in the least to Mr. Benen that Obama has supported the Patriot Act and the wiretapping of U.S. citizens or his vote to limit working Americans' ability to recover significant damages against criminal corporations or his lack of support of gun control as well as his imperial positions, as writer Paul Street notes, on Israel/Palestine, Columbia, Cuba, Afghanistan, Iran, his desire to increase the military budget as well as adding more soldiers to what is already the largest military in the world.
It is very puzzling why McCain should not [justifiably] be given the benefit of the doubt whereas Steve Benen is quite content to allow Obama, that [alleged] agent of hope and change, to slide by on his steady shifting of his positions to the right. An example, it would appear, of placing party over principle.
Dr. Britney Hussein Matt @ 18:
Hell, I watched that segment on Keith's show and Keith said nothing. He waited for the unhinged to scream later and joined in.
Some hero huh?
If he's so immature, impulsive and erratic, why do the polls have him and Obama running neck and neck, or close to it?
I'm rofl at McCain's site.. they broke the link to the media feedback on their celebrity ad, but far more amusing is their sign-up form...
They forgot "broke white guys"
Annoyed Canuck @ 25:
They tossed the fighter.
Too bad we aren't allowed to see the real John McCain instead of the Rovian attack machine.
Annoyed Canuck @ 25:
Recall the words of George Carlin: “Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.”
Annoyed Canuck @ 25:
Because anybody over 18 can vote.
getalife "whiners" @ 27:
if it aint close, they cant steal it.
They have to make it look close from minute go, or no one will believe it. Many don't believe it anyway, but enough will for them to get away with it like they did the last two times.
Never underestimate the power of really stupid people in large groups.
@25, simple, attack ads appeal to baser instincts, and the Republican party is the party of those instincts. You know, FEAR!!!!!!!! Look out, a black Democrat! Hide the white women! Protect the oil companies! Circle those wagons, etc.
lmab @ 20:
"I'm John McCain and I approve of this message."
jumping in here...
i missed most of the explanation, but DANA MILBANK and KEITH OLBERMAN have parted ways...
had to do with the article dana wrote, leaving out the FIRST part of obama's symbol comment...
he wouldn't clarify and MSNBC said so long... dana now has a job with "another network"...
i missed all that drama...
No. 44 @ 29:
Hahahahahaha......as I get older, I look/listen/observe people younger than I and ask myself continually......."is it the water/global warming?"
thomas @ 32:
that made me laff, I immediately was reminded of blazing saddles when Bart was telling about how they came to the west, when the Indians attacked they were not allowed to join the main (white) wagon circle, so they made their own... (visualize a single wagon running in it's own little circle while 20 others in the big circle are being demolished)
lj @ 33:
that line is missing from the anti-christ ad... perhaps since it's a web ad and not a tv spot?
Widespread @ 21:
The one uses a different kind of politics, remember?
Now the fighter Clinton would be screaming shame on you McCain. Your own Mother called this crap stupid and Paris's mother, a Republican donor, is outraged.
Clinton would have a 10 point lead by now.
getalife "whiners" @ 38:
depends on how she would have voted on FISA as a presumptive nominee....
No. 44 @ 29:
Superb post!!!!! This one says it all! Hello America!
constituent @ 39:
She voted no. It does not matter. You tossed the fighter.
Annoyed Canuck @ 25:
Seems to me that the answer to your question has a simple answer... with profound implications for the future of politics in this country:
For MONTHS, every time I watched primary coverage on TV, or listened on the radio... Hillary was getting negative commentary... and Obama was being anointed with a GOLDEN GLOW.
THESE DAYS Obama is getting the shit bucket thrown at him, and McCain ALWAYS is given the benefit of any doubt... on EVERY topic.
I think it is becoming obvious IN THE EXTREME that corporate America wants to see Republican control continue in Washington DC... and that agenda has become THE agenda of American news coverage of this campaign.
getalife "whiners" @ 27:
If you mean they (the Democrats) picked Obama over Hillary, I agree that this may turn out to be a big mistake.
Annoyed Canuck @ 43:
Yes, he drops that different kind of politics and fights back like Clinton, he has a chance.
Looks like some people waking up
Alter concludes that McCain “mortgaged his precious personal honor.”
He did that in 67.
When someone sells thier pride and honor. No matter what the reason. Thier never the same again.
They lose something inside. A part of thier very fabric or being. And once it's gone, you can never get it back.
These attacks coming from McCain's camp should be expected. This is how they play the game.
They have no scruples, or sense of decency. All that matters is winning.
When someone sells his honor, He's a hollow man. Because if you don't have honor, you don't have self respect.
And this coming from a man who wants to be the next POTUS.
They say the bottom has a rocky reputation.
i don't give mcfuckhead the benefit of a doubt.
he is an asshole like the people running his
campaign ads, since they are the very rethugs
who ran ads against him in 2000.
everything that comes out of his mouth, surfaced
out of his lying butt. he just pulled off the facade finally.
bateman:mccain and the race card.....kind of funny
http://www.salon.com/ent/video_dog/
lmab @ 20:
Andrea Mitchell is an old harpy who loves old men, and is even married to one. Old men with power that is. Greenspan still has some cachet these days.
(hussein)moondancer @ 9:
I agree, Obama will destroy him in the debates. I'm sure McCain will be on his best behavior when put on television to confront his opponent, but if this hackery goes on, the moderators will most likely bring these ads up and ask for an explanation.
McCain is running an extremely risky strategy. Yes, he may succeed in swift-boating Obama and skewing the election to a win, but there is an equal chance he will destroy himself.
With every attck that Obama seems to shrug off, the McCain team grows more bold and desperate. I've noticed a backlash starting among undecided people I know, even moderate Republicans. They smell something foul coming from the McCain camp and it makes them uneasy.
jabookindoggins. @ 46:
I don't think he ever was honorable. Coming in almost last at the Naval Academy and his behavior as a pilot are telling. I think this guy is an older George W. Bush, but with combat experience. Another misbehaved rich boy whose daddy got him through life.
getalife "whiners" @ 41:
i didn't toss her the party did...i appreciate hillary and would have supported her i would still like to see her as v.p. i still say her FISA vote may have been different as the presumptive nominee....it didn't effect me but she made some errors in her campaign
Maybe the beginning signs of the honeymoon being over. Hope so.
As for Hillary......nobody would energize the Repug base more than that lying phony. She's the only Dem that could lose this election.
"What, me worry"?
Alfred E Neuman aka John frat-boy McCain
my favorite line in the Alter column "...and an angry, bunker mentality among aides that one GOP operative, fearing excommunication from Team McCain if identified, describes as "lacking only a Luger and a cyanide pill.""
The problem with the media covering this election is their misguided attempt to appear to treat the candidates in a fair and balanced way.
Many of them know what a pathetic person McCain is and they can see the popularity and strength of Obama.
Therefore to avoid being accused of "liberal bias", and to create the political drama they profit from, they prop up this fool while cutting down Obama.
All to create the appearance of a level playing field...2 equal foes, each representing one-half of America.
But as McCain's tactics become increasingly desperate and overt, journalists are finding it increasingly hard to continue this charade.
seevee @ 53:
Who says she's so polarizing? The media. That's who. Who is portraying Obama as being a flip flopper right now? The Media.Thats who.
The reason they say she's so polarizing is because she's Bills wife. She's a Clinton. And thats good enough for them..I'm surprised so many people bought that crap. She's too polarizing. BULLSHIT! .
If you think Obama can win this w/o HRC. Get used to the GOP, cause they're gonna be around for awhile.
Oh one more thing, They really hated Mrs FDR too.
Why did these co called pros on politics have so damn much trouble reading him ? I'm just a veteran in my late fifties with a little college and I could spot that phony a mile away. The media in this country leaves a lot to be desired. If the average American doesn't wake up soon and I really doubt if they will we are in for it and it won't be at all good..
mudshark @ 57:
If she's all that she should have beat him. And, if she lost because of the media, what's to keep the media from keeping her from winning again?
seevee @ 60:
wasn't just the media and i know your aware of that the
(R) is afraid of her and they had a lot to do with smearing her............i'd like to her as v.p. i know she wants the big job....maybe in four yrs....i don't know if she'll accept the job....the dirt is out on hillary any new stuff will be looked over...she's smart and a good politician
seevee @ 60:
My point is, it was the media portraying her as too divisive. It was the media that portrayed her as being vindictive in the primaries. As for the media helping her win. LOL, yeah, right.
Amazing, simply amazing.
Who owns the Media?
Pop quiz.
If you answer the question right, you can possibly win.........,
A Winnabego, hell, a whole herd of Winnabego's, We're Givin um away
Or......
A baby's arm holding an apple.
mudshark @ 57:
uh, mudshark, with all due respect... bull$#!+.
a year ago, people like you were telling me there was no way a young black man named barack hussein obama, who was 20 points down in the polls at the time, could supplant your gal as the democratic nominee. where are we today?
like it or not, the hillary clinton IS polarizing. even here on the left. not just the war vote. we've got to keep as much corporate money out of the white house; hillary gobbles up pac money like, well, ms. pac-man.
constituent @ 61:
The Repugs wanted to run against Hillary. Remember Lush's daily rants about Operation Chaos? He knew it was their only chance. As for the Repugs smearing her, I would like to hear some examples of that. I don't remember that. I do remember her repeating her lie about being shot at on the runway. That cinched it for me, either she's nuts or completely duplicitous.
*like it or not, hillary clinton IS polarizing. even here on the left. not just the war vote. we’ve got to keep as much corporate money out of the white house as possible; hillary gobbles up pac money like, well, ms. pac-man.
(sorry moderators; i promise i'll try to remember to utilize that nifty "preview" feature!)
seevee @ 65:
oh.....yeah i had my contrarian hat on ....better take it off
when they say they want to do something i think the opposite..... but what do i know...i say hillary for v.p. probably won't happen cause of all the linguistic bullshit
seevee @ 65:
remember the weird bobby kennedy comments? remember the crying? remember her saying mccain is more qualified?
we don't even have to touch on the real dirt, like the mena stuff...
seevee @ 65:
You're right about the sniper thing that was just plain old stupid. No doubt about that, The truth is when her plane was approaching the airport it did come under small arms fire. But she should have kept her mouth shut on that.
As for Operation Kaos, it seems to have worked on you. Reverse psycology 101.
You can honestly sit here and say you never heard the repugs smear her?
{Save it for an Open Thread! Back on topic, Please. SiteMonitor}
mudshark @ 69:
I've heard Repugs smear Hillary plenty, but during the nom race they were quite benevolent and respectful towards her, quite outside their normal behavior. I do think they wanted to run against her.
{ Back on topic Please. SiteMonitor}
Recently read how other prisoners with him at the time called him the songbird and said they always saw him with the enemy commanders - and that he received better treatment....Hmmm??? The 'war hero' is actually a traitor.
lmab @ 20:
i'm sorry.... how does being a POW make you know how to win wars? that has to be asked........I respect the man for his sacrafices, but cannot make the connection. He is as unqualified as anyone to run this country.
seevee @ 70:
i do agree. they were going to clobber her w/ the "i was for the war before i was against it" mantra they used on kerry.
furthermore, the rightwing base was going to mobilize in opposition against her because they're every bit as disgusted w/ clintonian abuse of power as you and i are with bush.
i'm not even talking monica, i'm talking rose law firm, mena arkansas, ruby ridge, waco texas, etc., etc.
there's enough dirt on the clintons, that, to my mind, is credible enough, so much so that i, myself, an aquarian hippy baby, couldn't defend them in good conscience.
now, getting back on topic, mccain's a tool and it's high time we went on the offensive.
shouldn't be too hard to take him; if a vietnamese peasant can shoot his @$$ out of the sky in his prime, imagine what an educated & dedicated u.s. citizenry might be capable of, especially now that we got us some internets tubes...
Anyone who has raised a 4-yr old has seen this act before. Trouble is, McCain can't quite get to 5. He's a punk: never knew shit, doesn't want to find out, and insists that it's a virtue. Bottom line, he was a POW because he was stupid, unprepared, and unlucky. I wouldn't trade places, but he has always played it like a mommy's boy and always will. That's why he brought in the bully boys, and why America better figure out pronto that McCain and everyone behind him are worthless assholes who can't wait to sell out our nation. This time, it counts; let's not fuck around, Barack. You gotta be Jackie Robinson, but that means playing harder, not being sucked in.
what I find most offensive about the McCain ads is that he and his corpse bride Lieberman seem to think it just good funnin. It's all a big joke, and the poor shmucks out there losing their jobs and their homes are just yukking it up.
Why won't Obama not hold a mirror up to this fraudulent prick. We've got some real problems in the country and all he can come up with is his stupid gags with Britney, Moses and a tire gauge. If this is what will get him elected then this country deserves this economic catastrophe.
bullfrog @ 74:
OK last comment from me here on this. I don't want to piss of any of the site monitors.
You can't blame Ruby ridge on Bill Clinton.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruby_Ridge
But hey, why not. He's guilty of starting the Spanish Inquisition.
So why not blame him for everything else.
OK Back On Topic. McCain.............jeeeeeeeeeeeeezzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!
Loser, sell out, Repugnican,willing to sell out his own wifes honor to get elected.
Yep, that pretty much covers it.
GaNite Folks.
See Ya next time.
Once again the media are three steps behind normal people. They think that somehow McCain has changed. Bullshit. They act like McCain has somehow changed from what he really is, but you don't become a dick overnight. McCain has just been more successful at hiding what an utter douchebag he is. If the media would set themselves up to be the watchdog of politicians again instead of trying to be their pals, they would know this.
Doesn't "I'm John McCain and I approved this message" mean anything?
One thing that Alter does bring up which resonates with me is McCain's extraordinary hiring of Rove's henchmen for his campaign despite what they did to him and his adopted African-American daughter (not to mention using Rove himself as a consultant).
Seriously, try to imagine adopting a child and then having that child used against you to allege that you fathered her out of wedlock and to bait racists for the benefit of your opponent's political campaign.
Would you then go on to campaign for that opponent, not once, but twice - as McCain did? Would you hire those goons for your own campaign despite your daughter's knowledge of the incident - as McCain did?
Talk about a character flaw...
His immaturity has been in glaring evidence simply from the jokes he tells.
He's another stupid, spoiled, wanna-be important, frat-brat.
JUST what America needs again. NOT.
*
kiweagle @ 80:
Well he is a politician, so he has probably about the same morals as a rock, maybe less!
But above all, he wants to win. Why wouldn't he pick up the guys that can pretty much guarantee a win between negative attacks, micro-targeting, and voter machine fraud.
Obama doesn't stand a chance honestly. Yeah, if this were a free democracy, Obama would win hands down no questions asked. But this isn't a free democracy. We have a media that wants to make them out as ideological twins to better facilitate a stolen election. Obama is helping McCain too by not fighting back, and he probably won't challenge the results in November either when "voting irregularities" are found, a la Kerry 2004.
Yeah, McCain knows he has this in the bag, that's why he's being such a colossal ass, because he knows he can get away with it. Who's going to hold him accountable? You? You voted in the same Democrats that gave Bush a pass for the last 8 years, what makes you think they'll be harsher on McCain?
Face it folks, we're screwed come November. We can have all the hope you can shake a stick at, but hope doesn't ensure a free and fair election. Hope doesn't ensure that the MSM holds politicians accountable for their lies and distortions. Hope doesn't ensure that the Congress-criters you re-elect every other year will hold the executive branch accountable. No, all of that takes action and determination to actually do something about it.
kiweagle @ 80:
The lie was bigger and dirtier than that. The adopted daughter isn't African American, she's from Bangladesh. So calling her a 'black out-of-wedlock baby' was a double fraud.
Annoyed Canuck @ 83:
Thank you, Annoyed Canuck, for the added info - though I'm sure dark skin means the same thing to all racists - but I'm still deeply disturbed by McCain's willingness to go down this path. The description of his daughter's discovery of this information years after the fact was heartbreaking. I couldn't care less if they've been apologized to or even if his daughter gave the personal "go-ahead", this is just beyond the pale...
Apologies for dwelling on the point, but I just can't believe that McCain did the following:
1. Forgave the people that made his wife and daughter (though years later when she found out) cry after being publicly humiliated with lies;
2. Actively campaigned for the people who successfully used those lies;
3. Hired the people who created those lies and then... used lies they created against his opponent.
And they call Obama the Anti-Christ... Bloody Hell!
How anyone can think he is of great character after the way he treated his first wife is beyond me.
And he was one of the Keating 5, and we have another banking crisis now.
I was interested in McCain in 2000, but the interest was gone after he shrank from his very righteous anger in a face-to-face interview with Bush after the S. Carolina push polling. Wish I could find that video. Bush simply "couldn't believe" that McCain would accuse him of performing these ugly things that were upsetting to the McCains. He basically buried him in high-volume bullshit and McCain looked physically smaller. Can't stand either one since.
link.......JOHN MCCAIN......BUSH REPUBLICAN....... anything less is BLIND
“juvenile,” “childish” “stupid.”
Yup.
I have no faith in the average American voter
Hello preznit McCain.
Silly McCain!
Everything you said may be true, now CONVINCE the electorate!
If Sen. McCain sacrificed principles, why leave kid gloves on when he is being interviewed? Why leave kid gloves in any case? This man is running for President of the United States; if he can't take the heat, all of it, what would make anyone think he's capable of running the country?
You know, mention is being made here about the connection between the slurs in '00 against Sen. McCain's wife and child and the Senator's hiring of Rove..
Its bad enough this country almost elected and ended up appointing a President that employed tactics such as these to get placed in the White House in the first place. Now, we have someone who was the target of those slurs employing the same tactics employing the same people to achieve the same end.
What makes anyone think the electorate is paying attention let alone care?
"his heart’s not in it, like a little boy who eats his peas when his parents tell him to but remains transparently unhappy about the experience. It’s not clear how committed McCain himself is to this latest assault on Obama."
Come on. This isn't criticism by Newsweek. It's damage control.
The guy's _high_school_ nickname was McNasty. He's been an A-hole since he was a child, so let's not get all weepy about how badly he feels about his campaign director authorizing attack ads against his opponent.
The mainstream media really does hire talented people to tell you black is really white, the sun is just the moon at night, don't they?
Seems to me this is the type of defence journalists roll out when their comments deviate too much from reality. This defence = "he's a bad *politician* but he's still the rock solid guy underneath.
McCain sold his soul for the Presidency 5 years ago.
The saddest part about all of this is that the ads are apparently WORKING. That the majority of Americans can be swayed by lowball political hackery like this is a telling comment on the state of our democracy and the state of our culture in general. I'm not sure of the state of the citizenry when Rome fell, but if this country doesn't get its act together, we will just be another chapter in history while the rest of the world passes us by.
Adam Franklin @ 96:
The world has passed us by. We're too stupid to notice, too insulated to care, and too conceited to understand that we have a problem.
Could America really afford to host an Olympics? I think not.
what was it that made folks like Alter think McStained has any honor to begin with?
The Keating Five?
Gimme a break.
He's been a weak, crooked, corrupt asswipe his WHOLE career...
Annoyed Canuck @ 83:
McCain sucking up to Rove is like a parent providing food and comfort to someone who has molested that parent's child........ and in front of the child no less !
McCain says Obama will do anything just to get elected.
He should try saying that while staring in his daughter's eyes.
I would argue that McCain has no honor and never did The proof of the existence of honor is what one does when put to the test. McCain has never chosen the honorable path of action whenever he has been put to the test. Ever.
To be fair, though, I'm not very impressed, am even distressed, by what I've seen of Obama as he has recently been put to the test.
Honor and integrity are composed of an abundance of deeds and a fewness of words.
Oh great, another presidential wannabe who makes silly faces.
Why don't we just elect Jenny McCarthy?
bullfrog @ 66:
ysbaddaden Says: Oh great, another presidential wannabe who makes silly faces.
Why don’t we just elect Jenny McCarthy?
Heh...electing McCain is like electing CHARLIE McCarthy.
Reno @ 26:
Isn't he behind in the polls for ALL those categories, including Broke White Guys?
He pissed off the Vets, The African-Americans, The Jews, The Women, The Disabled, The Indians, The East Indians, and the Lawyers. And that was last month. Where's the Hispanic coalition? Or does mcmoron not want to be seen as friendly to them?
Doesn't McShame remember what these scumbags did to him and his convict, pill-popping wife?
McShame and Rove's minion....in the end:
Scumbags of a feather...flock together...
‘A surprisingly immature politician’
Wazzat make me?
Liberal AND Proud @ 103:
But who's got his hand up mccain's butt?
Only his proctologist knows for sure.
ysbaddaden @ 107:
What day is it?
ysbaddaden @ 106:
Sad, pathetic, juvenile...but that doesn't make you a bad guy! LOL!
; 0 )
the media has morphed itself to fit the president(bush) and now the candidate(mccain) it follows: undiciplined, petty, instigating. mccain and his campaign will reflect mccain as president: undiciplined, lazy, petty(as if we all NEED that right now). one thing i know about obama, should he become president, this press better get their stuff TOGETHER if they cover him, because he's not going to put up with that crap from them-and he shouldn't. and the contrast between the two, (obama and the press) will be noticeable to the American people, and i think the American people will be pleasantly surprised.
I thought I knew a lot about "Crash" McCrazy until I read " The Real McCain" by Cliff Schecter and I really was shocked, after reading the whole book, that McCrazy has been a rotten piece of shit for his entire life. I mean that this asshole has no scruples at all. He hates women, he's vengeful,he lies,he holds grudges FOREVER,adulterous jack ass,and just a mean old man! In short ,John "Crash" McCrazy is a nasty human being! GO BARACK!!!
Liberal AND Proud @ 110:
I wish.
I could never write something like Satires
I may be a good hexer
but no master of dactylic hexameter.
I just thought I'd remind all of you that despite HRC going negative in the primaries...she lost.
I think you are underestimating the intelligence of middle america, we are tired of it!!! Even my repug 70 year old inlaws see the disconnect between their party and themselves. MSM flies in the face of their realities. What keeps Repugs voting for their base? I call it a displaced sense of loyalty. I have almost convinced them of that. We will win as long as we keep talking and informing our friends, our relatives of the facts. Perhaps the new "low info voters" will buy all the negative campaigns but they are what? 20% of america? In the past this may have been enough along with a disengaged populace, that is not the same populace we have now thanks to these political blogs.
I believe the republicans only chance is:
1) divide our party and conquer (which they tried to do with the primaries and currently by calling Obama a flip flopper)
2) convince people that the democratic process is a sham so the cynics stay home
3) make voting difficult, or disenfranchise many voters
4) steal the election
If you think Rovian politics can't manage all that you are mistaken they already have, hence GWB. So don't fall for it, they are operating on all these fronts. The one thing we have going is they are predictable and the public sees it.
Obama's cleverer at this game; he lets his surrogates deliver the profoundly low blows, race-baiting, disingenuous statements and then he provide the passive-aggressive (more in sorrow than anger - LOL) responses.
It's still dirty, underhanded politics and Obama, always the establishment candidate, is practicing it as well as he has from the beginning.
When will somebody in the media point out that all these negative ads by Honorable John McCain, with many easily proven lies, all have one sentence in common? I seem to recall all of them ending with "I'm John McCain and I approved this ad."
No. 44 @ 14:
McCains respons: " Yea, that's what YOU are, but what am I?!" B-th-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-!! NYA!!
McCain is irrelevant. He was chosen by the Repugs as the most palatable (after the trainwreck Bush admin) Republican candidate.
It's not so much McCain as president, but who is selected as his VP.
Of the BBQ-attendee media types who blithely excuse this trivial and brain-dead campaign as McCain being marketed by hatchet-happy campaign mercenaries, when does anyone get to ask whether this is revealing as to how McCain would actually govern?
Imagine basing your entire enegy policy on pumping up the nations tires. The words of an arrogant, narcissistic, inexperianced empty suit. And uppity too.
http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/64ad536a6d
getalife "whiners" @ 15:
No, sorry, Milbanks tossed himself under the bus by failing to admit that his quote was incomplete, as was attested by several witnesses. You do a really lousy job, you lose your job. And "Whiner"? Get a life, please!
Jack P @ 120:
Been an idiot long, Jack P? Sounds as though you must have worked all your life to be this polished at it. Just wondering, have you ever read anything?
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