Read what the Republicans Wish You Wouldn’t
Today's Daily Flipper - McCain Corruption Edition you will read:
McCain Pushed Key Land Deal For Fundraiser
McCain Misses The Mark In Michigan
McCain Doesn’t Know Much About The Judiciary Either
McCain Gets Support From EU Trade Minister
Cindy On Release Of Tax Returns
As The Money Woes Continue
McCain Wants His FEC
Ron Paul Supporters Plan Takeover of GOP Convention
Read all the detail and take action on the flip. Flip it good.
TOP HEADLINE: Must Read!
You Scratch My Back I’ll Scratch Yours. . .McCain Pushed Key Land Deal For Fundraiser
Sen. John McCain championed legislation that will let an Arizona rancher trade remote grassland and ponderosa pine forest here for acres of valuable federally owned property that is ready for development, a land swap that now stands to directly benefit one of his top presidential campaign fundraisers].
Initially reluctant to support the swap, the Arizona Republican became a key figure in pushing the deal through Congress after the rancher and his partners hired lobbyists that included McCain's 1992 Senate campaign manager, two of his former Senate staff members (one of whom has returned as his chief of staff), and an Arizona insider who was a major McCain donor and is now bundling campaign checks.
When McCain's legislation passed in November 2005, the ranch owner gave the job of building as many as 12,000 homes to SunCor Development, a firm in Tempe, Ariz., run by Steven A. Betts, a longtime McCain supporter who has raised more than $100,000 for the presumptive Republican nominee. Betts said he and McCain never discussed the deal.
DESERT DEAL McCain Pushed Land Swap That Benefits Backer, By Matthew Mosk, Washington Post
Flipper story #2:
Well, He Has Admitted He Don’t Know Much ‘Bout The Economy . . .McCain Misses The Mark In Michigan
It's not that John McCain's 20-minute indictment of these heinous crimes at Oakland University on Wednesday wasn't admirable.
But it was a speech you deliver outside the United Nations, not a few miles from Delphiworld headquarters, which just emerged from bankruptcy after shuttering factories and slashing wages in half for many autoworkers.
In Michigan, it's the economy, stupid.
Most of the 700 attendees stared at McCain with slack-jawed politeness before the town hall portion, in which they hungrily fired off questions about jobs, the Iraq war, fuel-economy standards and even his temper (to which he drolly shot back, "How dare you ask me that question").
John McCain's not-so-secret plan to lose Michigan, by Susan J. Demas, Capitol Chronicles - Michigan Live
Flipper story #3:
McCain Doesn’t Know Much About The Judiciary Either
In McCain's Tuesday speech on the judiciary, in which he pledged to appoint judges in the conservative cast of Roberts and Alito, he used several examples of "activist" judges to illustrate the "common and systematic abuse of our federal courts by the people we entrust with judicial power".
At least one of those citations is so inaccurate and is taken so laughably out of context that it makes me wonder whether McCain's speechwriter read the decision before he included it in the talk. I can only assume not.
Here's the section of the speech:
"One justice of the court remarked in a recent opinion that he was basing a conclusion on "my own experience," even though that conclusion found no support in the Constitution, or in applicable statutes, or in the record of the case in front of him. Such candor from the bench is rare and even commendable. But it was not exactly news that the Court had taken to setting aside the facts and the Constitution in its review of cases, and especially in politically charged cases."
Closer scrutiny reveals several major problems with the senator's logic. According to McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds, McCain was referring to an April concurring opinion penned by Justice John Paul Stevens.
Stevens was appointed by Republican president Gerald Ford, yet is considered one of the more liberal justices.
The case was Baze v Rees, in which the court ruled 7-2 that lethal injection is constitutional. Hardly an "act of raw judicial power"
worthy of conservative condemnation. Stevens concurred with the majority opinion, written by none other than Chief Justice John Roberts, whom McCain said meets his "standards of judicial ability, experience, philosophy, and temperament" and who would "serve as the model for my own nominees".
Blatant inaccuracy in McCain's judiciary speech, Daniel Nasaw, Guardian
Flipper story #4:
Throwing Dems Under The Airbus -- McCain Gets Support From EU Trade Minister
Peter Mandelson, European trade commissioner, has said the protectionist stances taken by the US presidential candidates risk taking the world trading system back by decades. ... Mr Mandelson declined to say which candidates he had in mind, but the context made it clear he was referring to Democrats Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama "You match the rhetoric. I am not going to do that."
EU trade chief hits at Democrat hopefuls, By Alan Beattie in London, Financial Times Online
Flipper story #5: (This story was reported in a few diaries on Kos.)
Never Gonna Happen, Says Cindy On Release Of Tax Returns
Cindy McCain made crystal clear today that she has no plans to release her tax returns -- now while her husband is the presumptive Republican nominee, or later if she becomes first lady.
"This is a privacy issue. My husband is the candidate," she said in an interview aired on NBC's "Today" show.
Asked if she would release her tax returns if John McCain wins the presidency, she replied flatly: "No."
Cindy McCain puts foot down on tax info, by Foon Rhee, Boston Globe
Flipper story #6:
As The Money Woes Continue. . .
He backs an unpopular war in Iraq, represents an unpopular political party and is endorsed by an unpopular president in the midst of an economic downturn.
As if that's not enough, Republican John McCain could be heavily outspent by his Democratic rival in the U.S.election in November to succeed President George W. Bush.
For every $1 the Arizonasenator has raised, Democrat Barack Obama has raised $3. Hillary Clinton, unlikely at this point to beat Obama for the Democratic nomination, has raised two and a half times as much as McCain.
McCain is likely to have enough to compete with either Obama or Clinton, his campaign and Republican strategists say. But several acknowledged that the yawning money gap is another sign of the uphill battle any Republican would face this year.
McCain Likely to Be Outspent In Election, By REUTERS, NY Times
Flipper story #7:
McCain Wants His FEC!
Several Democratic officials familiar with the negotiations and watchdog groups said they believed that Senator John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, had been pressing the White House and Senator Mitch McConnell, the minority leader, to resolve the issue.
Although Mr. McCain has been a longtime champion of campaign finance reform, he also has an urgent pecuniary interest in the matter.
The agency, which monitors compliance of federal election laws, has had only two commissioners out of a normal complement of six for months, leaving it without a quorum and powerless to act. Without a functioning commission, campaign finance experts said, Mr. McCain’s ability to collect $85 million in federal money for the general election through the country’s public financing system would be severely complicated.
In F.E.C. Moves, Some See Effort to Aid McCain, By MICHAEL LUO, NY Times
Flipper story #8: (Operation Chaos at the GOP)
He’s Baaaaack. . . Ron Paul Supporters Plan Takeover of GOP Convention
Senator John McCain is sailing toward his coronation as the Republican presidential nominee while the Democratic candidates battle fiercely.
But Republicans also are engaged in some tough infighting that could disrupt the national convention and make it more difficult for him to unite the party in the fall.
Across the country, at state and county GOP conventions, diehard supporters of maverick Ron Paul are staging uprisings in an effort to secure a role for Paul at the national convention in Minneapolis-St.
Paul.
And in the four primaries since clinching the nomination in early March, McCain has yet to reach 80 percent of the vote, as Paul and former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee continue to siphon away votes, even though Huckabee has withdrawn from the race.
Infighting rains on McCain's party - Diehard Paul supporters seek role at convention, By Brian C. Mooney, Boston Globe
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The Daily Flipper is distributed by the DNC Research Department. Items are not intended for attribution to the DNC, its chair or spokespeople.
New Chapter in Free Ride by Media Matters
Additional opposition research is being done by Media Matters Action Network.
HT to Paul Rosenberg at Open Left. He writes in a must read column: "Today, Paul Waldman and David Brock are releasing a new chapter to their book, Free Ride: John McCain and the Media.. The new chapter is an update to the media coverage of McCain since the book was published, and is NOW available at www.mccainsfreeride.com. (snip)
What To Do
In a conference call announcing the chapter's release, co-author Paul Waldman discussed what can be done to change the coverage.
"We have a right as citizens that all the candidates should be judged by the same standard," Waldman said. He argued that some of the same techniques that had been used to corrupt the system could be used to correct it as well.
Take Action !!! Take Action !!! Write to your paper.
Attention United Kos! Senator Obama moved ahead in super delegates today. The nomination is over. We're just waiting for the lady to sing. Let's point our attacks to John McCain. The DNC has a terrific online letter to the editor tool at the link below. Just enter your zip code, select the papers in your area, compose a letter to your editor, then click send. It goes to every paper you select - at once. It's easy as pie.Inform Your Community About John McCain - DNC Online Editor
Link to Previous Daily Flippers Today's edition is number 9.
Note: greenchiledem is a DNC committee member from Colorado and Kos community member. She has committed as a superdelegate for Senator Obama and considers herself a progressive Democrat.