Think McCain knows what could lie ahead?

Has anyone else looked at Sen. McCain's plans for election night?

They don't look like plans for someone planning a celebration but rather like plans for someone planning to slink away to lick their wounds.

Don't get me wrong... I continue to urge everyone to continue the fight... the last thing I want is for us to get complacent and get beat in a few weeks.

Having said that, I still think something's amiss here... but don't take my word for it (as awesome as my words are) but judge for yourself...

Via AP;

John McCain's election night watch party might be missing John McCain.

Instead of appearing before a throng of supporters at the Biltmore Hotel in Phoenix on the evening of Nov. 4, the Republican presidential nominee plans to deliver postelection remarks to a small group of reporters and guests on the hotel's lawn. Aides said Thursday that the arrangement was due to space limitations and that McCain might drop by the election watch party at some other point.

Space limitations? Seriously? If space is truly limited, wouldn't it make more sense to un-invite one or two, I don't know... journalists and NOT make the guest of honor, you know – the candidate himself – remove himself from the list of attendees all because of space limitations?

More from AP;

McCain's remarks will be piped electronically into the party and media filing center, aides said. Only a small press "pool" — mostly those who have traveled regularly with the candidate on his campaign plane, plus a few local Arizona reporters and others — will be physically present when he speaks.

Thomas Patterson, a government professor at Harvard's Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy, called the arrangement "unusual" but said the campaign may simply be bowing to the reality that the candidate's remarks are geared toward the televised audience rather than those in the hall.

Hmmm… there just has to be another explanation for such an inane choice.

Again, this is just me, but I don’t think his actions seem apropos for someone planning to celebrate a hard-fought victory or a hard-fought loss. In fact it seems to have the feel of something being thrown together by a person that’s ready for the game to be over with so they could hibernate for a few weeks while thinking of what COULD have been.

It’s almost sad…especially when you consider the opposite as Sen. Obama has plans to address a giant outdoor celebration in Chicago’s Grant Park on Election Night… win or lose.

Again, I’m not calling for complacency or smugness as I more than understand that this race isn’t done until all the votes have been cast and counted… but you have to admit it’s strange.

And… a little enjoyable.

Can we talk about issues now?

Just in case you don’t know why I will be voting Obama on November 4th… while McCain spews hatred and accusations, Obama is speaking on the issues of the day, specifically the economy.

Sen. Obama today (the bolding is mine, the words are his);

“I know these are difficult times. I know folks are worried. But I believe that we can steer ourselves out of this crisis because I believe in this country. Because this is the United States of America. This is a nation that has faced down war and depression; great challenges and great threats. And at each and every moment, we have risen to meet these challenges - not as Democrats, not as Republicans, but as Americans. With resolve. With courage.

We have seen our share of hard times. The American story has never been about things coming easy - it's been about rising to the moment when the moment is hard; about rejecting panicked division for purposeful unity; about seeing a mountaintop from the deepest valley. That's why we remember that some of the most famous words ever spoken by an American came from a President who took office in a time of turmoil - "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."

Now is not the time for fear. Now is not the time for panic. Now is the time for resolve and steady leadership. We can meet this moment. We can come together to restore confidence in the American economy. We can renew that fundamental belief - that in America, our destiny is not written for us, but by us. That's who we are, and that's the country we need to be right now.

[…]

It's easy to rile up a crowd by stoking anger and division. But that's not what we need right now in the United States. The times are too serious. The challenges are too great. The American people aren't looking for someone who can divide this country -- they're looking for someone who will lead it.

We're in a serious crisis -- now, more than ever, it is time to put country ahead of politics. Now, more than ever, it is time to bring change to Washington so that it works for the people of this country that we love.

I know my opponent is worried about his campaign. But that's not what I'm concerned about. I'm thinking about the Americans losing their jobs, and their homes, and their life savings. We can't afford four more years of the economic theory that says we should give more and more to those with the most and hope that prosperity trickles down to everyone else.”

To Sen. McCain I say this; ‘it’s STILL the economy stupid.’ The World economy is going to hell in a hand-cart, and here you and your surrogates are, throwing accusations and innuendos about Mr. Obama rather than tackle the issues.

Game over Mr. McCain… game over.

More lies from McCain

McCain made the startling statement earlier this week that he always tells “100 percent absolute truth”, even in his campaign ads.

The problem with that statement is that it’s a lie, and for all of you McCain-apologists out there, consider these, courtesy of Politico.

1. Claiming Palin didn't take or ask for federal earmarks as governor of Alaska. In her first year, she actually took $256 million worth.
2. Claiming Palin stopped the Bridge to Nowhere, when she didn't until the project would have to be paid for strictly from state funds.
3. Claiming Obama's health care plan would cost jobs, reduce wages, and would force people to abandon their existing coverage.
4. Claiming Obama wants to raise taxes on electricity and home heating oil.
5. Claiming Obama wants to raise taxes on individuals making as little as $42,000 per year.
6. Claiming he would never raise taxes, then admitting that his health care plan would raise taxes.
7. Claiming Rick Davis had left his lobbying firm, and had never received lobbying fees from Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. Turns out that Freddie Mac was paying Davis $15,000/month for doing nothing, and he still is a director in his firm.
8. Claiming he had never requested a federal earmark for Arizona, when he has.
9. Accusing Obama of voting to cut off funds for the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
10. Accusing Obama of skipping a visit to a military hospital in German because he wasn't able to bring news crews along.

Also the fact that he says he voted for every investigation regarding Hurricane Katrina (he didn’t)… claimed he didn’t back privatizing Social Security (he did)… said he was going to suspend his campaign (he didn’t).

McCain lies… any questions?

McCain camp whines some more...

Sen. Obama was in Wisconsin today where he gave a speech in which he said; “Let me lay this out, because I want everybody to know the differences between myself and Senator McCain in this campaign.”

That was the one and only time in the entire speech that Obama mentioned McCain… so what does the McCain camp do?They release a press release that whines reads; “As Americans teeter on the edge of economic crisis, Barack Obama continued attacking John McCain today...”

‘Attacking John McCain’?? Really?

Now... my reaction to this is the same reaction that the Obama campaign evidently had when they sent out this press release; “Given the fact that Barack Obama did not attack John McCain today, it is a telling admission that the McCain campaign saw Barack Obama’s attack on eight years of greed and irresponsibility in Washington as a personal attack on John McCain. We’ll leave it up to the McCain campaign to explain why they get so offended and defensive when George Bush’s record is attacked.”

For someone who’s been trying awfully hard to distance himself from the current CIC, the McCain campaign’s whining about one sentence in a speech does a nifty job of tying the two together again.

So we WILL leave it up to the McCain campaign to explain why they get offended when Obama rightfully attacks “President” Bush’s record.

Though I will NOT be holding my breath.

McCain's Keystone Kampaigning

Sen. McCain’s inane posturing about suspending his campaign went over like a lead balloon… spewing forth that he would stroll into town on his white horse, sheppard the economic crisis through Congress while collecting bipartisan support.

Well, as if he hadn’t already made himself and his campaign looked amateurish, this latest development will.

Speaking at a rally today, McCain took credit for helping the bailout bill pass, as did his surrogates…

Mitt Romney; “[T]his bill would not have been agreed to had it not been for John McCain. ... But, you know, this is a bipartisan accomplishment, a bipartisan success. And if people want to get something done in Washington, they just watch John McCain.”

Sen. Lindsey Graham; “But here are the facts, and I’m not overselling anything. The fact is that the House Republicans were not in the mix at all. John didn’t phone this one in. He came and actually did something. ... You can’t phone something like this in. Thank God John came back.”

Senior McCain adviser Steve Schmidt; “Earlier in the week, when Senator McCain came back to Washington, there had been no deal reached. ... What Senator McCain was able to do was to help bring all the parties to the table, including the House Republicans.”

Got that? McCain helped to get his republican colleagues in Congress to go along with the plan.

Well… apparently someone forgot to tell his colleagues, as the bailout plan failed today, with 133 republicans voting against the bill and a scant 65 voting for it.

McCain certainly did a good job, didn’t he?

McCain’s campaign more and more looks like the Keystone Kops.

Do you suppose there’s anyone actually running the campaign, or is it more so the fact that the campaign’s surrogates just go out and say anything at anytime.

How else can one explain the complete disarray of a once formidable campaign?

I knew it…

When Sen. McCain decided to suspended his presidential campaign earlier in the week, he said that he was doing it so he could go back to DC and help broker a deal on a financial bailout, saying “I am calling on the President to convene a meeting with the leadership from both houses of Congress, including Senator Obama and myself. It is time for both parties to come together to solve this problem.”

Well, a solution didn’t happen… the debate is going to go on with McCain… and McCain left DC in a hurry.

Lost in the dust is this gem from Rep. Roy Blunt (r-MO); “I do think that John McCain was very helpful in what he did. I saw him this morning, we’ve been talking with his staff. Clearly, yesterday, his position in that discussion yesterday was one that stopped a deal from, uh, finalizing that no House Republican, in my view, would’ve been for. Which means it probably wouldn’t have passed the House.”

Well, if I’m reading this correctly, and I like to think I am… Blunt is blaming McCain’s presence for screwing up the bipartisan agreement. Turns out a deal WAS close yesterday but then a group of House republicans, egged on and supported by McCain, proposed a plan that wouldn’t create bi-partisan support.

So McCain told the world he was suspending his campaign to help broker a deal, then promptly fucked that up because it was too bipartisan.

And he wants to lead?

Give me a break.

McCain has blinked…

Rather than allow Sen. Obama a national stage to himself (Plan B), Sen. McCain has blinked and WILL attend tonight’s debate.

His campaign's statement; “Senator McCain has spent the morning talking to members of the Administration, members of the Senate, and members of the House. He is optimistic that there has been significant progress toward a bipartisan agreement now that there is a framework for all parties to be represented in negotiations, including Representative Blunt as a designated negotiator for House Republicans. The McCain campaign is resuming all activities and the Senator will travel to the debate this afternoon. Following the debate, he will return to Washington to ensure that all voices and interests are represented in the final agreement, especially those of taxpayers and homeowners.”

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight…me thinks this didn’t quite turn out the way that McCain and his surrogates envisioned.

Ain’t it great?

UPDATE: Apparently McCain has already won tonight's debate… at least that’s what his campaign is saying as there’s already an ad floating around that declares it as such.

Give me a break…

Another ‘senior moment’ for McCain?

Seriously, the best writer in the world couldn’t make this stuff up....

According to Spain’s El País, earlier this week Sen. McCain wouldn't answer whether he would be willing to meet with Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero.

The reporter asked multiple times; “Would you be willing to meet with the head of our government, Mr. Zapatero?”

Not surprisingly, McCain couldn’t offer a coherent and logical response;

McCain proceeded to launch into what appeared to be a boilerplate declaration about Mexico and Latin America -- but not Spain -- pressing the need to stand up to world leaders who want to harm America. […] “I will meet with those leaders who are our friends and who want to work with us cooperatively," according to one translation. The reporter repeated the question two more times, apparently trying to clarify, but McCain referred again to Latin America. […] Finally, the questioner said, “Okay, but I'm talking about Europe - the president of Spain, would you meet with him?” The Senator offered only a slight variance to his initial comment. “I will reunite with any leader that has the same principles and philosophy that we do: human rights, democracy, and liberty. And I will confront those that don't [have them].”

Ooooookayyyy… you’re asked about a NATO ally, and respond with this strange answer about America's friends and enemies before proceeding on and talking about Mexico.

The reporter reminded McCain at least twice that she was talking about Spain and the Spanish Prime Minister, and yet McCain stayed on Mexico while rambling on about America's enemies.

Today McCain’s foreign policy adviser Randy Scheunemann was hastily trying to defend his boss’s beleaguering answer by writing a letter to the Washington Post in which Scheunemann claims McCain did know who Zapatero was and was simply stating his refusal to commit to “a White House meeting with President Zapatero.”

Well… first of all, Zapatero is Spain’s Prime Minister and not its President… second of all, given our treaty-bound obligations under NATO, we kinda have to meet with him. So the excuse for the bizarre answer still doesn’t hold water.

We can either focus on the fact that McCain either had another senior moment or simply doesn’t know that Spain is in Europe, and NOT South America… which is horrifying enough.

Or we can focus on how the McCain campaign’s (so-called) foreign policy expert doesn’t know what position Mr. Zapatero holds… again, horrifying enough.

Or we can point out that this is yet another flip-flop from the master, as McCain said he’d be happy to meet with Zapatero five months ago.

My vote would be for all of the above… how about yours?

If McCain actually DID know what he was doing (and really, what are the chances of THAT), and was declaring his refusal to meet with Spain’s leaders, one has to wonder why.

Well… it can be summed up with four words; Bush. Iraq. Troop withdraw.

Remember, shortly after his party came into power in March, 2004 – days after being attacked by al Qaeda - Zapatero kept his primary campaign promise and withdrew Spain’s troops from Iraq.

This apparently pissed off “President” Bush.

Consider this from the LA Times, via ThinkProgress;

Zapatero’s first action was to make good on a long-standing campaign promise to remove Spanish troops from Iraq, to the overwhelming approval of Spaniards but the great irritation of Bush. […] Eighteen months later, there has still been no one-on-one meeting between the two leaders, and rhetoric has been harsh. It got so bad at one point that Bush refused to take Zapatero’s phone call of congratulations last year after the president won reelection.

So it seems very likely that McCain's bewildering response as to whether or not he would meet with Zapatero may indicate that he either too old and confused to be given the ‘key’ to our country, or he is interested in making Bush's grudge against Spain permanent U.S. policy.

Explain to me how a McCain presidency would NOT be a continuance of a Bush presidency? ‘Cuz I don’t think McBush got that message.

Regardless of the answer, we cannot have him in charge for the next 4 years.

And finally…

In case you hadn’t heard; the lies just keep on coming…

Today McCain said; “Two years ago, I warned that the oversight of Fannie and Freddie was terrible, that we were facing a crisis because of it, or certainly serious problems. […] The influence that Fannie and Freddie had in the inside the Beltway, old boy network, which led to this kind of corruption is unacceptable and I warned about it a couple of years ago.”

How about that… McCain called the crisis 2 years ago… wow, he must—what’s that? Read what he said 10 months ago when someone asked him about the subprime mortgage crisis?

“But so, in this whole new derivative stuff, and SIBs and all of this kind of new ways of packaging mortgages together and all that is something that frankly I don’t know a lot about. [...]
But I don’t know of hardly anybody, with the exception of a handful, that said ‘wait a minute, this thing is getting completely out of hand and is overheating.’

So, I’d like to tell you that I did anticipate it, but I have to give you straight talk, I did not.”

So he didn’t predict it before he predicted it...

The lies! They burn!

And finally…

In case you hadn’t read or heard about this today…

Appearing on a KTRS Radio show in St. Louis today, McCain Victory chair Carly Fiorina, the former Hewlett-Packard CEO, was asked by the host; “Do you think she has the experience to run a major company like Hewlett Packard?”

Fiorina answered; “No, I don’t. […] But that’s not what she’s running for. Running a corporation is a different set of things.”

Ouch.

When asked about that comment later in the day during an MSNBC interview, Fiorina replied: “Well, I don't think John McCain could run a major corporation.”

Ouch again.

With surrogates like this… who needs opponents?

UPDATE: Well, apparently McCain doesn't need surrogates like this...

After hearing her bluntly state that neither he nor Palin were capable of running a major corporation, one of McCain's top campaign advisers said that she will be punished.

From CNN's Political Ticker;

"Carly will now disappear," this source said. "Senator McCain was furious." Asked to define "disappear," this source said, adding that she would be off TV for a while – but remain at the Republican National Committee and keep her role as head of the party’s joint fundraising committee with the McCain campaign.

Fiorina was booked for several TV interviews over the next few days, including one on CNN. Those interviews have been canceled.

OOOOOOOO, sounds like someone's being take out to the woodshed...

Not something to be bragging about this week John…*

“The point is, I was chairman of the commerce committee. Every part of America's economy, I oversighted. I have a long record, certainly far more extensive of being involved in our economy than Senator Obama does.”

Really? You really want to brag about being involved in the economy right now at this moment?

Keep talking Mr. McCain…it only helps us.




*but keep doing it nonetheless.

John McCain’s ‘Al Gore Moment’?

We all know how fervidly the republicans screamed in 1999 when Al Gore said (read: implied) he invented the internet (McCain himself made fun of Al Gore back then).… well, Sen. McCain’s done it this time, implying that he invented WiFi, the Cell Phone, and the Blackberry.

No lie.

Yesterday McCain told scienceblogs.com; “Under my guiding hand, Congress developed a wireless spectrum policy that spurred the rapid rise of mobile phones and Wi-Fi technology that enables Americans to surf the web while sitting at a coffee shop, airport lounge, or public park.”

Uh-huh…

Consider these examples of McCain’s ‘guiding hand’ from Daily Kos’ Devilstower, the emphasis’ are my own;

With the Telecommunications Act of 1996, the Senate passed the first major revision to telecommunications law in 62 years which provided the foundation for much of the cell phone and Internet regulation over the next decade. The bill passed 81-18 and was signed into law by President Clinton. McCain voted against the act.

In 2002, McCain authored the "Consumer Broadband Deregulation Act of 2002" which eliminated the requirement of the 1996 law that telecommunication companies provide access to competitors. It didn't pass.

In 2003, the Internet Tax Freedom Act was passed, putting in place a moratorium on taxes for activities on the Internet. The bill had 11 cosponsors – McCain wasn't one of them. He did vote for the bill, but since it passed 97-3, that's definitely "guiding" with a small 'g.' Granted, this wasn't directly a bill about wireless, but since McCain doesn't seem to have authored any law on wireless technology, I'm having to search for connections.

Of pending legislation, McCain is not a sponsor of the "Connect the Nation Act" – though Senator Obama is. McCain is not a sponsor of Senator Rockefeller's call for a universal next generation broadband by 2015 – though Senator Obama is. And of course, McCain isn't a sponsor of the "Internet Freedom Act" that would ensure net neutrality – though Senator Obama is. That last is no surprise. McCain has repeatedly opposed net neutrality, saying that companies have a right to restrict speed or even limit access to sites "when you control the pipe you should be able to get profit from your investment."

So, McCain's "guiding hand" seems to consist of opposing the legislation that laid the groundwork for the communications we have today, and authoring failed legislation designed to benefit big carriers. Of course, we should probably be glad that John McCain really didn't invent the cell phone or WiFi, otherwise we'd all be getting our wireless services from one monolithic company free to restrict our access to only the pages that pay for the privilege. And we'd all be using "Jitterbugs."

So his ‘guiding hand’ consisted of being one of 97 total votes for the Internet Tax Freedom Act that put a moratorium on taxes for activities on the Internet.

While we try and wrap our minds around how that constitutes helping to create WiFi, consider this from McCain’s top economic adviser Douglas Holtz-Eakin. While holding his Blackberry up in the air, Holtz-Eakin said; “He did this. […] Telecommunications of the United States is a premier innovation in the past 15 years, comes right through the Commerce committee so you’re looking at the miracle John McCain helped create and that’s what he did.”

Wow! A United States Senator is responsible for helping to create a product born in Canada… created in Canada... and founded using Canadian technology… now that’s talent and we should ALL be grateful to Sen. McCain for not only lending his ‘guiding hand’ in helping to create WiFi, the Blackberry and cell phones… lest we all be using cell phones the size of a small dog.

It’s so hard to express sarcasm in the written form.

Former FCC chairman Reed Hundt sees McCain’s contribution to society differently, telling ThinkProgress; “John McCain is so out of touch with America his economics adviser says he deserves credit for creating the Canadian company that invented the Blackberry. Message to Republicans: it’s American entrepreneurship our President is supposed to encourage.”

So… McCain doesn’t know how to use technology…admittedly doesn’t like technology… has to have his wife use technology for him… but he’s now taking credit for a bit of technology that changed our lives forever.

Interesting isn’t it that when Gore said that about the internet, the traditional media went agog and crucified him mercilessly…

I’ll be waiting for that to happen to McCain.

Do they make rose-colored bi-focals?

Hopefully you all remember a moment back in January when Sen. McCain said; "The issue of economics is not something I've understood as well as I should."

He wasn't just whistling Dixie… he REALLY doesn't understand economics, as evidenced by a quote from him this morning after the Dow Jones industrial average dropped 300 points, Lehman Brothers announced they were filing for bankruptcy and Merrill Lynch was forced to sell itself.

McCain; "… the fundamentals of our economy are strong."

Really? They're strong?

It didn't take McCain long to start back-peddling as he tried to amend his words later today by redefining the word "fundamentals", saying; "The American worker and their innovation and their entrepreneurship, the small business, those are the fundamentals of America and I think they're strong."

See what he did there? He's redefined the words he used so now if you say there's something wrong with the economy, you're insulting the American worker…

Very Rovian tactic there… redefine, then offer sound bite after sound bite that you're the only one able to fix the economy.

How? I'd like to know how exactly he's going to fix it…after all, his economic policies aren't any different than Bush's policies… and it's Bush's policies that ignited this economic slowdown in the first place.

Moving the goalposts every time your rhetoric doesn't fit the facts is insulting to our intelligence.

Tell me Mr. McCain; if the fundamentals are strong, why is the dollar so low?
Why is unemployment increasing?

Why is the trade deficit increasing?

Entrepreneurs and small businesses are getting screwed with their pants on in today's economy as they're less likely to be able to afford health insurance for themselves and their workers or compete with the Big Box stores that enjoy tax breaks and the like,

Obama's campaign jumped on McCain's slip-up, issuing a statement that says; "Today of all days, John McCain's stubborn insistence that the 'fundamentals of the economy are strong' shows that he is disturbingly out of touch with what's going in the lives of ordinary Americans. Even as his own ads try to convince him that the economy is in crisis, apparently his 26 years in Washington have left him incapable of understanding that the policies he supports have created an historic economic crisis," said Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton."

Oh, and by the way… the Dow closed 500 points lower this afternoon, its worst point drop in seven years.

So tell us again Mr. McCain… how is the economy ‘strong’?

McCain Issues a Challange: Let's Meet It

Sen. McCain got pwned on ABC’s The View today… not only did the women (save for Elizabeth Hassleback who tried to take the bullet many times and failed) ravage him on the choice of Palin as his running mate, but also on the lie his campaign keep saying that she never requested earmarks as governor.

But the best part was the fact that they forced him to essentially issue a challenge… so Sen. McCain has thrown down the gauntlet… and he better be prepared for the onslaught that’s coming.

While appearing on the show today, McCain tried to defend his ‘maverick’ image and failed… epically.

Joy Behar: “… you used to be more of the Maverick, then you sort of turned.”
McCain: “In what way?”
Behar: “You became much more lockstep, I think, with your party, with George Bush’s policies. […] I don’t see the old John McCain. … I understand why — you want to get elected.”
McCain: “I’ve been through this litany before, where I say, “ok, what specific area have I quote changed?” Nobody can name it. … I am the same person and I have the same principles.”

Ooooo, a dare…

McCain argued that on issues (spending, climate change, the war in Iraq, torturing of prisoners) he’s the “same guy” he always has been.

WRONG-O!

He dared people to give examples of how he’s flip-flopped on any issue, and you know the progressive blogosphere will have a field day with this… in fact it’s already started on Think Progress and The Carpetbagger Report.

Rather than point all of them out (I don’t have that kind of time), I chose my Top Ten John McCain Flip Flops… enjoy.

10. John Hagee, Rod Parsley. Jerry Falwell. All three are ‘controversial’ (read: idiotic) religious leaders who have either said outrageous and inane things or done outrageous and inane things. First he didn’t want their endorsement… then he did… then he didn’t again, but still kept the endorsement. Confused? Imagine how McCain feels…

09. Lobbyists. Back in May of this year McCain approved a ban on lobbyists working for his campaign… months later in July his campaign changed their mind and said lobbyists could work for his campaign.

08. Roe v Wade. First he said he would NOT repealing it, now he says the exact opposite.

07. Immigration. McCain announced in February 2008 that he would vote against his own bill. (Voting against your own bill is damn near the definition of flip-flopping. You can also see is own lobbying-reform legislation from 1997 that he crafted yet now opposes as another example of voting against a bill he created)

06. Taxes. McCain was against Bush’s tax cuts for the very wealthy before he was for them and vowing to keep them in place.

05. Social Security. First he defended the “privatizing” of Social Security and now he says he’s against privatization when in reality he still supports it. Also, at first he said he would not, under any circumstances, raise taxes… not soon after he said “nothing off the table” regarding an increase in the payroll tax.

04. McCain was against expanding the GI Bill to the point he offered his own version that was panned by every veteran’s group dating back to the Peloponnesian war… how he’s for it AND taking credit for it.

03. McCain believed the U.S. should engage in diplomacy with Hamas, he now believes the opposite. He also believed the U.S. should engage in diplomacy with Syria, he now believes the opposite. He also supported normalization of relations with Cuba… he now believes the opposite. (Do you sense a trend here?)

02. Torture. How in God’s name a former POW who was tortured over a course of five years can support waterboarding is anyone’s guess. But this past February McCain did just that and reversed course on the banning of waterboarding.

And the number one McCain flip-flop can be summed up in one word: Iraq.

McCain recently claimed that he was the “greatest critic” of Rumsfeld’s failed Iraq policy, however in December 2003, McCain praised the strategy as “a mission accomplished.” Later, in March 2004, he said, “I’m confident we’re on the right course.” In December 2005, he said, “Overall, I think a year from now, we will have made a fair amount of progress if we stay the course.” (Yeah, how’d that work out for us Johnny boy?)

Furthermore on Iraq, McCain said before the war in Iraq; “We will win this conflict. We will win it easily.” Four years later McCain said he knew all along that the war in Iraq war was “probably going to be long and hard and tough.”

As if that wasn’t enough, McCain has also changed his mind about a long-term U.S. military presence in Iraq many, many many times… coming to the different conclusion that a Korea-like presence is both a good and a bad idea. 20.

McCain staunchly opposed Obama’s Iraq withdrawal timetable, and even blasted Mitt Romney for having referenced the word during the GOP primaries. In July, after Iraqi officials endorsed Obama’s policy, McCain said a 16-month calendar sounds like “a pretty good timetable.”

These aren’t even counting the facts that he opposed a holiday to honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., before he supported it… or that he endorsed intelligent design creationism in 2005 before saying the opposite a year later and then months after that saying that he was for and against creationism… or the fact he opposed a variety of measures on equal pay for women but then, this past July, said that he’s “committed to making sure that there’s equal pay for equal work. That, is my record and you can count on it” (not on my life would I count on ANYTHING this man says… or how he changed course on Bush’s warrantless-wiretap program circumventing the law or the fact he was all for closing the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay… now not so much.

Remember, these are only my Top Ten flip-flops. If you want more, click HERE or HERE or HERE.

Let’s take-up this challenge and show McCain, and the American people, just how much he DOES flip-flop.

And how sad is it that a show that is defined more as entertainment than news is the only one to do the work of a journalist? Looks as though Ms. Walters has a little journalistic integrity left in her after all… good job everyone.

Except you Elizabeth…

Who said what now?

I mentioned in this morning’s ‘Daily’ that the McCain campaign is agog over the “lipstick on a pig” (henceforth known here as PiglipstickGate) thing for nothing… and I’m not the only one as former republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee appeared on Fox “News” and defended Obama’s use of the term (check Hell to make sure it hasn’t frozen over).

Now we have someone else take the McCain campaign to task…not only for over-bloviating the “pig lipstick” comment but also for dumbing down the presidential campaign as a whole.

It was Meghan McCain.

...

Yes, THAT Meghan McCain… the one who said earlier this week that her family knows “more about war than anyone on the planet” appeared on Fox “News” today and defended Obama, saying; “I've heard my dad say that, the term 'lipstick on a pig.”

She wasn’t done as she goes on to make another solid point about the McCain camp’s overwrought reaction, saying; “I don't like anyone being referred to as a pig in any context. […] I think there's a lot more educated conversations we can have about the ticket than just saying these remarks like that.”

Wait a moment… let me read that again… ‘don’t like anyone’… uh-huh… ‘lot more educated conversations’...

Wow… If I’m reading this right, and I like to think I am, she just said that her father is running a petty and inane campaign.

Sure, she’s not defending Obama per se (she hasn’t gone totally smokeless), but she IS slamming her own father’s campaign.

This campaign just got keeps getting more and more interesting. Stay tuned...

How stupid do they think we are?

The stupidity of McCain’s surrogates keeps getting better and better…

Today it’s Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. He appeared on ABC This Week this past Sunday and had the balls to take Sen. Obama to task for being absent on so many Senate votes, saying; “Sen. Obama’s been gone more than he’s been here.”

Apparently either someone forgot to tell Graham or he’s too narrow-minded to see the truth… which is that McCain remains THE MOST absent member of the senate… missing 63.8% of senate in the 110th Congress compared to Obama missing 45.5%.

So either Graham didn’t read up on his facts or he’s simply making them up… as conservatives are prone to do as this is hardly the first time that McCain or his surrogates have tried to paint a picture that Obama is ignoring his senate duties… and each time it’s mentioned that McCain is ignoring his senate duties as well, just at a higher level because he’s missed MORE.

McCain slammed Obama for missing a vote that HE ALSO MISSED…

McCain said he hasn’t missed any votes on energy legislation…EVEN THOUGH HE HAS…

McCain said he supports Sen. Webb’s GI Bill (he didn’t) and to show how much he supports it, HE SKIPPED THE VOTE…

So once again Lindsey is employing the gop’s tactic of not letting facts get in the way of a good talking point.

And McCain surrogates with the last name of Graham weren’t finished as senator Phil Gramm has talked his way into trouble yet again.

(Yes, I know they spell them differently, but they both pronounce them the same and both share a tendency to say incredibly stupid things… a feat in and of itself)

After saying in July that the US has “become a nation of whiners” the McCain campaign allegedly stopped soliciting assistance from Gramm…well, that didn’t happen, and now Gramm’s stepped in it once again.

Speaking to McCain supporters are a Financial Services Roundtable during the convention, Gramm said; “If you’re sitting here today, you’re not economically illiterate and you’re not a whiner, so I’m not worried about who you’re going to vote for.”

He’s right… McCain supporters aren’t whining… because they’re going to get tax breaks up the wazoo if McCain is elected why the Middle Class gets screwed with their pants on.

Again.

No way. No how. No McCain. No Quayle Palin.

"To the backlash mobile!" Part 2

"If it were your decision, and you were putting your country first, would you put an untested small-town mayor a heartbeat away from the presidency?" - National Review's David Frum

(Ouch... and that's from a conservative... well, I bet other conservatives are happy with the choice... right... RIGHT??? Helloooooooo, anyone there???)

What color is the sky in his world?

Former President Jimmy Carter was giving an interview with USA Today yesterday and said that Sen. McCain has been “milking” his time as a POW to his advantage at every opportunity.

Well, that appears to have pissed off South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford, who labeled Carter’s comments “absurd” and said “I’ve spent a lot of time with John McCain over the years and it’s something he doesn’t bring up in personal conversation. It’s something that you have to pull out of him just because it’s something that he doesn’t talk about. And so, does he have admirers that talk about that searing life experience and the character that it would develop? […] With all do respect, I think it’s a crazy claim.”

I’m… I’m sorry… his time as a POW is something he “doesn’t talk about”… seriously? That’s what you’re going to say??

Give me a break…

McCain not only has a long and storied history of discussing his POW experience… at length… but he’s also very well adept at doing so when it has absolutely nothing to do with the topic at hand.

He did it most recently during an appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. After Leno asked him how it’s possible that he couldn’t remember how many houses he owns, McCain said; “I spent five and a half years in a prison cell, I didn’t have a house, I didn’t have a kitchen table, I didn’t have a table, I didn’t have a chair.”Aaaaaaannnnnddddd???? What does that have to with the question at hand? If Jay had any balls he would have asked a follow-up question consisting of; what the fuck does that have to do with anything??

It doesn’t… and it proves that McCain DOES talk about his time as a POW and he DOES use it, or at least tries to use it as an advantage.

ThinkProgress has a few more examples of McCain “not” talking about this POW experience:

“– Raising his POW experience to justify his love of the song ‘Take a Chance on Me’ by Abba. “A lot of my taste in music stopped about the time I impacted a surface to air missile with my own airplane,” McCain said to Walter Issacson at the Aspen Institute. (In fact, Abba
began recording years after he was shot down.)

– Raising his POW experience to justify his opposition to universal healthcare. “I did have a period of time where I didn’t have very good healthcare, I had it from another government. Look, I know what it’s like not to have healthcare,” McCain said on ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos.

– Raising his POW experience to attack political opponents. “Senator Clinton tried to spend $1 million on the Woodstock concert museum. Now, my friends, I wasn’t there…I was tied up at the time,’” McCain said during a primary debate.”

McCain uses his time as a POW to his advantage. I know that. He knows that. Everyone outside the traditional media knows that. Why do we continually act as though he doesn’t?

It’s logical that someone who is a veteran would use that experience in stories… but when one brings it up and the subject at hand has absolutely nothing to do with POW’s or veterans or the military… well, there’s something wrong there.

Why is it when I hear McCain talk I instantly think of Grandpa Simpson?

“We can't bust heads like we used to, but we have our ways. One trick is to tell them stories that don't go anywhere. Like the time I took the fairy to Shelbyville. I needed a new heel for my shoe so I decided to go to Morganville, which is what they called Shelbyville in those days. So I tied an onion to my belt, which was the style at the time. Now to take the ferry cost a nickel, and in those days, nickels had pictures of bumblebees on them. Give me five bees for a quarter you'd say. Now where were we, oh ya. The important thing was that I had an onion on my belt, which was the style at the time. They didn't have white onions because if the war. The only thing you could get was those big yellow ones.”

McCain is not only senile, but his surrogates – regardless of age – are as well it seems...

No way. No how. No Grandpa Simpson McCain.

To the backlash mobile!

While I had resolved myself to not speak about Sen. McCain’s VP choice of Sarah Quayle Palin… the conservative backlash succeeding her selection is something I can NOT pass up.

Keep this in mind… she was the mayor of a small town in Alaska, population 6,500, a mere 20 months ago… and that town’s largest concern was if they would have enough snow on the ground for the Iditarod. But in 1984 she was runner-up in the Ms. Alaska beauty pageant… so she has that going for her. And now… now she’s been tapped to be a heartbeat away from the presidency… and with McCain’s age (by the way. Happy Birthday today Senator), that could very well come into play.

But I’m getting off-topic… back to the real point of this post; conservative backlash.

HT to Daily Kos …

Kathryn Jean Lopez of National Review; “She Just Is Not Ready to Be Commander-in-Chief [said] Pat Buchanan on MSNBC just now, about Sarah Palin. I'm liable to agree.”

Lopez wasn’t done as she shared this email she received; “As much as I loathe Obama-Biden, I can't in good conscience vote for a McCain-Palin ticket. Palin has absolutely no experience in foreign affairs. Considering both McCain's advanced age and the state of the world today, it is essential that the veep be exceedingly qualified to assume the office of president. I simply don't have any confidence in Palin's ability to deal effectively with Iran, Russia, China, etc. I certainly will not cast a vote for Obama-Biden, but nor will I vote for McCain-Palin. Looks like I'll either sit this one out or vote for Bob Barr. Why, o, why, didn't McCain listen to Rove and just pick Romney?”

(Because trying to use the label of elitist towards Obama wouldn’t work when the presidential and vice presidential candidate own over 11 homes between them… I’m just sayin’)

Steven Chapman calls her selection “inexcusable” and says; “But worse, this decision mocks McCain's seriousness on the issues that are supposed to be his strength. It tells us that he puts his own political fortunes above the safety of the nation.”

(Yup… welcome to the self evident point we knew months years ago Steve. McCain is a pandering flip-flopper…)

Mark Silva of the Chicago Tribune; “Yet, as McCain often has joked, one of the few requirements for the vice presidency is looking after the health of the president on a daily basis. So, should Palin find no breath on the mirror held under McCain's nose some day, is she ready to be president? […] On the question of national security, the McCain campaign has offered Palin's control of the Alaska National Guard. Really?”

(She controls the National Guard so she’s qualified to handle national security… seriously? That’s that the campaign is going to say? That’s about as stupid a comment as Fox “News” host Steve Doocy’s rationale of her being good at international relations because she’s “right up there in Alaska right next door to Russia.”)

Ramesh Ponnuru of National Review; “Inexperience. Palin has been governor for about two minutes. Thanks to McCain’s decision, Palin could be commander-in-chief next year. That may strike people as a reckless choice; it strikes me that way. And McCain's age raised the stakes on this issue. […] As a political matter, it undercuts the case against Obama. Conservatives are pointing out that it is tricky for the Obama campaign to raise the issue of her inexperience given his own, and note that the presidency matters more than the vice-presidency. But that gets things backward. To the extent the experience, qualifications, and national-security arguments are taken off the table, Obama wins. [..] And it’s not just foreign policy. Palin has no experience dealing with national domestic issues, either. (On the other hand, as Kate O’Beirne just told me, we know that Palin will be ready for that 3 a.m. phone call: She’ll already be up with her baby.)

(Her selection does eliminate, partially, McCain’s argument about Obama being inexperienced. And the line about her already being up at 3 AM is perfectly snarky…)

MSNBC's Joe Scarborough; “It Sounds Like a Harriet Miers Decision. Let's Find a Woman, Whether She's Experienced or Not.”

(Ouch)

Erstwhile conservative tool and blowhard Pat Buchanan; “(Picking Palin is the) biggest political gamble I think in American political history.”

(this is starting to scare me... first Pat says that Obama's speech was the "greatest convention speech ever" and now he's unsure about McCain's running mate... do we need to call Hell to see if it's frozen over?)

Town Hall's Ron Fournier; “If Obama is an empty suit, as McCain has suggested, is Palin suited for the Oval Office herself? […] She is younger and less experienced than the first-term Illinois senator, and brings an ethical shadow to the ticket.”

(Or an empty pantsuit if you want to get technical)

You say you want Liberal reaction, here ya go…

Rep. Rahm Emmanuel; “Is this really who the Republican Party wants to be one heartbeat away from the Presidency? Given Sarah Palin's lack of experience on every front and on nearly every issue, this Vice Presidential pick doesn't show judgment: it shows political panic.”

(Yup…)

Sen. Chuck Schumer; “After the great success of the Democratic convention, the choice of Sarah Palin is surely a Hail Mary pass. It is a real roll of the dice and shows how John McCain, Karl Rove et al realize what a strong position the Obama-Biden team and Democrats in general are in in this election. Certainly the choice of Palin puts to rest any argument about inexperience on the Democratic team and while Palin is a fine person, her lack of experience makes the thought of her assuming the presidency troubling. I particularly look forward to the Biden-Palin debate in Missouri.”

(you ain’t the only one Mr. Schumer…)

Obama Campaign Spokesman Bill Burton; “Today, John McCain put the former mayor of a town of 9,000 with zero foreign policy experience a heartbeat away from the presidency. Governor Palin shares John McCain's commitment to overturning Roe v. Wade, the agenda of Big Oil and continuing George Bush's failed economic policies -- that's not the change we need, it's just more of the same.”

Fasten your seatbelts people…the ride has just begun.

Fallout from yesterday's 'stupid thing said by McCain surrogate' continues

I posted yesterday (“McCain staffer says something stupid”) about McCain’s healthcare architect John Goodman saying that there aren’t any “uninsured” people in the US because all Americans have access to emergency rooms.

Anyone with common sense can see why that’s a bad idea… but today the American College of Emergency Physicians has gotten in on the debate, issuing a statement that calls Goodman’s statement “reckless.” The statement reads; “We urge the McCain campaign to rethink the reckless suggestion by Mr. Goodman that the tragedy of uninsured patients can be erased by the magic of emergency departments. […] Emergency physicians can and do perform miracles every day, but taking on the full-time, medical care for 46 million uninsured Americans is one miracle even we cannot perform. Access to care in the emergency department is no substitute for the comprehensive health care reform policy that should be at the heart of the platform of any presidential campaign.”

Ignoring the fact that his campaign’s health care plan is, in the words of The New Republic’s Jonathan Cohn, “perfectly consistent with Goodman’s statements”, they still claim that Goodman’s healthcare beliefs and philosophies are “out of step with John McCain.”

Now with pressure from ACEP, one has to wonder how long until McCain disavows Goodman… Because it worked so well when he did that with Gramm, didn’t it?