Matt Stoller interviewed an anonymous friend of his who was a press advance person for the McCain campaign in 2000. This friend paints a picture of John McCain that is different than the dominant narrative of an honorable man getting slimed by George W. Bush in 2000. McCain was dirty back then too.
But, missing from the short interview was what John McCain did in Michigan AFTER he lost the SC primary to George W. Bush. Well...I was there, and I saw what he and his campaign did. And, again, it was far from honorable. [More after the bump]
First, you must know that I voted for John McCain in the Michigan GOP primary in 2000. So did my then girlfriend and now wife. We didn't vote for him because we were Republicans, though. We fully planned to vote for Al Gore in the general election.
No, we wanted to wound George W. Bush and prolong what was shaping up to be a brutal primary between McCain and Bush.
Everyone knows the story about how McCain won New Hampshire and George W. Bush and Karl Rove decided to build a firewall against McCain in South Carolina back in 2000. You all have heard about how Rove and Bush spread rumors that McCain was a Manchurian candidate, that he sold out his country in that POW camp, that his wife was a druggie (which was actually true), and how he fathered a black child out of wedlock.
You all know that McCain lost South Carolina and vowed to stop any negative campaigning. What you didn't know was that McCain's campaign began a vicious phonebank campaign against George W. Bush in Michigan.
The McCain campaign targetted Catholics in Michigan with a barrage of "Catholic Voter alert!" phone calls highlighting Bush's association with Bob Jones University and all but accusing Bush of being an anti-Catholic bigot. This is what Bush had to say about it at the time:
''I'm not bitter at all,'' he said tonight after arriving here from Michigan. ''I don't like being called a bigot, and I don't particularly care for a campaign that denies all day long that they did this, and all of a sudden now, as soon as they win, admits it.''
The call to Catholic voters prompted Governor Bush today to to try to assure the state's Roman Catholics that he was a friend who deserved their support.
''I'm telling you,'' he said, ''John McCain, he's a man who's called me an anti-Catholic bigot, and I don't appreciate it. That's shameful politics.''
And, even after the MCCain campaign acknowledged taht Bush wasn't anti-Catholic, they still were planning to continue the calls.
Rick Davis' quote about the calls, at the time, should sound familiar to everyone: ''We simply pointed out a fact."
Here's the text of the call McCain used:
This is a Catholic Voter Alert. Governor George Bush has campaigned against Senator John McCain by seeking the support of Southern fundamentalists who have expressed anti-Catholic views. Several weeks ago, Governor Bush spoke at Bob Jones University in South Carolina in South Carolina. Bob Jones has made strong anti-Catholic statements, including calling the Pope the anti-Christ and the Catholic Church a satanic cult! John McCain, a pro-life Senator, has strongly criticized this anti-Catholic bigotry, while Governor Bush has stayed silent while seeking the support of Bob Jones University. Because of this, one Catholic pro-life Congressman has switched his support from Bush to McCain, and many Michigan Catholics support John McCain for president.
So, I agree with Matt Stoller. McCain was like this in 2000 too. When it suited his purposes and his back was against the wall, he went nasty. The Myth of the Honorable Maverick -- John McCain -- is just that -- a myth.
Oh, and in case you were wondering - McCain won the Michigan Primary. So, even though he got caught and heavily criticized for this stuff -- he still won the state. No wonder he's not backing down now.