Daily Kos

McCain barks: 'Come on, Shelley'

by Carnacki

Fri May 16, 2008 at 05:50:19 PM PDT

For years I've tried to make myself a thorn in the side of Bush Republican Rep. Shelley Moore Capito. The day after she won in 2006, Clem and I met at Waffle House in Martinsburg to plot out what we could do to see her defeated in 2008.

Seeing and hearing how John McCain treated her today, I didn't know whether to laugh or cringe. So I did both.

John McCain (who received fewer votes than Barack Obama in West Virginia) stopped by West Virginia today briefly on his way to the NRA event in Kentucky.

West Virginia Democrats heard about it at the 11th hour and organized to 'greet him.'

The presumptive Republican nominee stopped for a quick shopping trip at St. Albans Gun and Archery in Kanawha County.

"He said I've got a catfish this big that I can't catch, he breaks my line so we went back and found him a pole that I guarantee won't break," said the store owner Jeff Beane.

While a throng of supporters gathered to get a glimpse of the senator, a group of protesters also lined up across the street.

"He needs to realize that gas prices, food prices, health care and all the issues that affect the working people are more important than a gun," said Richard Patrick of Charleston.

Here's West Virginia Blue's spruceshoe's YouTube:

Here's twilight campfighter's post:

Presumed GOP presidential nominee John McCain dropped into Charleston today to meet behind closed doors with a handful of ardent supporters, then quickly breeze through a couple local rod-and-gun-store photo-ops with a carefully handpicked group of local GOP officials, conservative legislators, and select pool reporters, exhibiting a Bush-like paranoia about being around ordinary people.

Regular West Virginians weren't welcome, and neither was the state's largest daily newspaper. Rep. Shelley Moore Capito's presence was tolerated and, unlike George Bush, Dick Cheney and other party stalwarts before him, John McCain chose instead to pass on the opportunity to mispronounce her name in public. Otherwise, their visits were similar - long on symbolism, short on details.

Plucking a page from the well-worn GOP playbook titled "God, Guns and Gays," McCain and Capito dutifully milled around St. Albans Guns & Archery for a few short minutes, seemingly only peripherally aware of Capito's faithful presence. Once the Second Amendment had been dutifully preserved and protected for the noble savages of Appalachia, McCain barked a double-time order at Capito and they got the heck out.

McCain's choice of local gun shops as background props for the day's visit in West Virginia and Kentucky seemed a bit curious, since he was once sued by the National Rifle Association (over McCain-Feingold) and once commented that, "The NRA is entitled to their advocacy. I don't think they help the Republican Party at all, but I don't think they should in any way play a major role in the Republican Party's policy making." (CNN, 5/12/00).

McCain was scheduled to speak at a NRA meeting in Louisville, Kentucky, later in the day, where his message was expected to be different, if only temporarily.

Never one to shy away from taking both sides of any given political issue, McCain has condemned the American use of torture, yet voted against a bill banning the CIA from using torture.

Brandishing a Bush-like oblivion on matters concerning realities on the ground in the Middle East, McCain recently conflated Shiite Iran and Sunni Al-Qaeda, demonstrating convincingly that if he got "the 3:00 a.m. call" he'd be the candidate least likely to have any idea  what the person other end was talking about.

Shelley Moore Capito tied her self to George W. Bush's failed policies. It's no surprise she's timing herself to John McSame.

Tags: Shelley Moore Capito, John McCain, West Virginia, WV-02 (all tags) :: Previous Tag Versions

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