I have had it with the Democratic mantra: We honor McCain's service. I have said it myself. But now (too late?) it is clear that McCain is anything but honorable. He is a cheat in every way imaginable. He cheated on his wife. He signed a statement condemning the US as a POW. He took bribes from Charles Keating. Plagiarized from Solzhenitsyn. And cheated on his Religion quiz from Rick Warren.
McCain is as honorable as Brutus.
Bluster and personal attacks cannot hide these plain facts anymore. George Burns once said that the smartest thing to do is to learn how to fake sincerity .Then you have it made. McCain is doing one better. Fake a reputation for honor. Then you can cheat with impunity.
And we have all fallen for it. We took him at face vale when he said that he will run a positive campaign. Before he went back on his word of honor. And we still say McCain is an honorable man.
That fringe veteran said John McCain had abandoned the veterans — I don't know if you can understand this, George, but that really hurts. You should be ashamed.
The man that used to be John McCain said this in Feb 2000 at the SC Primary debate. Asking George W. Bush to condemn a smear. Bush ignored him. Just laughed it off.
Four years later the same tactic was used against John Kerry by one Jerome Corsi. The man that used to be John McCain condemned the attack.
John McCain of today thinks that Jerome Corsi's attack biography of Obama is a laughing matter.
Approached by a curious reporter at an event on Friday and asked about the book, McCain replied:
Nate Silver (Poblano on DKos) has explained how Obama can checkmate McCain. By Obama endorsing the proposal by a Gang of Ten Senators (5 Republicans, 5 Democrats) to solve the immediate energy crisis by a combination of measures. Including a reasonable compromise on drilling. The Gang includes Sen. Lyndsey Graham of SC, one of McCain's ear-whisperers. Also Saxby Chambliss of GA. The Hill:
If McCain opposes the bill, it could appear that he is standing in the way of a compromise to soaring gasoline prices.
But if he backs it, McCain could cloud a clear distinction between the two parties on the issue that Republicans believe can swing the elections.
The Right Wingnuts at Red State are braying for Graham's head already. Imagine what they will do if McCain backs the measure, which is the sensible thing for both sides to do.
There they go again. With the Dirty Tricks. John McCain promised an honorable campaign. His wife talked about how much he hated negative ads. Just before they started to smear Obama. Even accused him of preferring to lose a war to win an election. Nothing short of treason. Blatant lies about Obama's tax plan. Negative ads even during the opening ceremonies to the Olympics.
And now they want to suppress voter registration. McCain is no maverick. He is just the same old kind of Washington politician. Same old Dirty Tricks that got Bush elected. The corrupt lobbyists running McCain's campaign are scared shitless by the surge of new voter registrations in swing states. They cannot match it, as their base is not excited by McCain.
The WSJ reports that
Republicans are moving to examine surges in voter registrations in some states. A Republican lawyers group held a national training session on election law over the weekend that included campaign attorneys for Sen. John McCain and other Republican leaders. One session discussed how party operatives can identify and respond to instances of voter fraud.
He wants to be leader of the Free World. But he is not even allowed to use his own cell-phone whenever he wants to. Which BTW is Gold Colored.
We are not talking about some delusional teenager, living in his mom's basement. It is John McCain who lost his ability to chat up his buddies at will. Who has the power to do this to a grown man? NYTimes
Mr. Schmidt has sought to cut down on Mr. McCain’s use of his cellphone and limit the people who have regular access to Mr. McCain in an effort to keep him more focused, advisers said. He has been the impetus for an effort by Mr. McCain to limit sharply his engagements with reporters, the kind of freewheeling encounters that Mr. McCain enjoys — and that helped him charm the news media for years — but that often lead him to veer from his campaign’s message of the day.
So when is Schmidt going to ground McCain? Or take away his gameboy? Now we can see why McCain comes across as a teen bully lashing out at the successful kid in his class. His own people treat him as a juvenile.
It has been a tough two weeks. The McCain attack ads. 1.5M downloads of the Celebrity ads. The Edwards Affair. Two Swift Boat Biographies of Obama. A Motorcycle convention. Clinton supporters threaten a floor fight. The Olympics is eclipsing politics. And Obama goes on vacation. It all sounds like what happened to Dukakis and John Kerry. Even Peggy Noonan, perhaps the only fair Republican commentator, sees trouble ahead for Obama.
Except for one thing. Obama is ahead. And has been ahead consistently. And McCain is the one over-reaching. It is McCain who will get burned for self-congratulation, immodestly declaring himself a `genius' for beating Obama in a `Democratic Year'.
I had my first experience at the grass roots last week. The occasion was a local city festival (in upstate NY). We sat at a booth selling Obama banners buttons etc. There were also some materials for vote registration, but very few people signed up. Many more signed up to join the local organization. Some wanted to volunteer for future events.
On the whole it was a very positive experience. I could see people's faces light up when they saw the sign. A few looked away, but lots more walked up to us and engaged in conversation. One of the best selling items was a "Women for Obama" pin. Some of the people buying were Clinton supporters. I did not detect any residual hard feelings. The best part was the other volunteers, more experienced people who made it very easy on a newbie. Enthusiastic, nice people who make you proud to be a Democrat.
So much for the good news. There were a couple of people, right wing types who wanted to start an argument. We mostly didn't engage them. Now I wonder if I should have argued with them and tried to convince them of the error of their ways. What do experiences grass roots organizers do in these situations?
McCain does have a voice of his own. You can hear it during townhalls or news conferences. It is the voice of a bully. You can hear him make rape jokes. Or get that deer in the headlights look when asked about Viagra and prescription pills. It is clear that he occsionally writes his own speeches in the Senate. The ones that have spittle all over them.
How can a man who can't write worth a damn put out a couple of best selling books? Simple. McCain got someone else to do the writing. Guy called Mark Salter. His own staffer. Keeps a low profile. Look below the jump for a picture of him not hiding his face.
He is an author in the same sense that Milli Vanilli is a singer. There is nothing new here. Most American politicians have others write their books for them. Bill Bennett even got another guy to write a book about Virtue. I guess that makes him a Virtual Author.
It turns out that even McCain's Straight Talk is not his own Talk. It is fake. Next we are going to hear that Cindy's Recipes are not really hers either.
Are they going to get away with this yet again? Slime a good democrat in August? The closest thing to a referee in American Politics is the Mainstream Media. As ineffective as they are at that job, they can call attention to totally scurrilous tactics. But in August they go on vacation. The Olympics further mutes the voice of the political reporters. No more Joe Klein or Andrea Mitchell. That is why all Republican smear attacks happen in August.
Make no mistake about it. The slime has just started flowing. Last week was an initial salvo of four commercials. A series of shots meant to locate the target. They have found that the charge against Obama that resonates with their base, is
UPPITY!
But they can't call it that. So they say he is presumptuous. Their audience knows what that means. They know the code.
Forget whose picture is on the Dollar Bills. When it comes to Presidential Imagery the real currency is Mount Rushmore. Why would an aging Senator who has never given a memorable speech, compare himself to youthful Teddy Roosevelt? And to Winston Churchill as well.
This is from the Primary campaign back in March:
By the way, there is a major gaffe in the Ad. The speech by Teddy Roosevelt was from the 1912 election he LOST to Democrat Woodrow Wilson. When he ran as the third Party candidate against his protege Taft whom he pushed to third place. Certainly Roosevelt was a maverick, but was this the act of Maverickery that McCain wanted to invoke?
There was never any doubt that Hillary Clinton would play an important role at the Dem Convention. It won't be as nominee. Apparently not as VP candidate either. Clinton will be the key note speaker. The slot that Obama had in 2004, which catapulted him to National Fame is going to Hillary Clinton this year.
Hillary Clinton has agreed to speak on the second night of next month's Democratic convention, headlining on the 88th anniversary of the day women earned the right to vote, sources say.
Two sources close to Clinton said the former presidential candidate will speak August 26 with all female U.S. senators on stage with her.
"Tuesday night is Hillary night," said one supporter.
That night is the anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, which gave women the right to vote.
If this is true, Sen. Clinton is almost certainly not Obama's pick to be his running mate..
I was against Sen. Clinton during the primaries, but she struck me as an exceptional person in many ways. I just happened not to like her because of her vote for the Iraq war. But listening to John McCain in the GE campaign, I am thinking..
How did this guy get this far?
The key is that McCain is from another class and generation. Back then a person of his background only had to show up to win. McCain got into the Naval Academy with below average skills only because he was the grandson of an Admiral. And his father was on track to be Admiral. He graduated 894th out of 899 students. If he was not born into the American elite, his career would have ended there. Instead he got a coveted post as a Naval Aviator. You know, cool jacket, sunglasses and all that. And proceeded to crash 3 airplanes. One on his way to watch a football game. Another when flew too low and ran into power lines. They were European power lines.
Senator John McCain said on Monday that his dermatologist had removed a spot from his right cheek, and that while it did not appear to be serious, she would perform a biopsy “just to make sure everything is fine.”
Mr. McCain, 71, who has had four melanomas, a potentially fatal form of skin cancer, said the spot had been removed Monday morning in Arizona during one of the checkups he has every three months with his dermatologist.
Let us pray that John McCain will be healthy through this campaign and beyond. We want to win fair and square: against a healthy opponent, not distracted by health issues.
Shorter leaders have often been more belligerent. Napoleon was 5'2".
Obama is more popular 48 vs 41 in Gallup
Polls vary. But McCain has been consistently behind Obama.
Obama is smarter Editor of Harvard Law Review vs. Rank 894/899 in Naval Academy. McCain has no advanced education. Cannot use computers. McCain thinks Iraq had a border with Pakistan. Can't tell Shia from Sunni.
Look at this picture of Obama (from a diary on the Rec List) and you will understand why Republicans are scared shit-less by him:
Obama looks like he already is President. The snarky caption by the Right wing rag is not what catches your eye. Or even the odd expressions on his fellow Senator's faces. Obama understands the power of visuals and rhetoric like no Presidential candidate since Reagan. He exudes a cool confidence not seen since Reagan. Obama is the anti-Reagan.
And it is driving Reagan's acolytes up the wall. They can't oppose Obama effectively because he is using all of Reagan's tactics against them. At the same time, McCain is channeling Dukakis and Sen. Clinton, two of the worst campaigners in recent history.
McCain is impugning Obama's patriotism in a way no other nominee has, in the last 50 years. Not Nixon. Not Bush 43 advised by Karl Rove. Not Bush 41, helped by Lee Atwater.
When we adopted the surge, we were losing the war in Iraq, and I stood up and said I would rather lose a campaign than lose a war. Apparently Sen. Obama, who does not understand what’s happening in Iraq or fails to acknowledge the success in Iraq, would rather lose a war than lose a campaign.
McCain is charging Obama with treason.
Not even Sen. McCarthy went this far, accusing a political opponent trying to lose a war to win an election. But we need to look that far back for a fitting response.
Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?..If there is a God in heaven, it will do neither you nor your cause any good.
This is McCain's rewritten essay for the NYTimes. We got an advanced copy from a source close to Sen. McCain.
How did this happen to me? I am the war hero. The Maverick. In January 2007, when General David Petraeus took command in Iraq, he called the situation "hard" but not "hopeless." I alone supported him in the "surge" strategy. Today, 18 months later, violence has fallen by up to 80% to the lowest levels in four years. The situation now is full of hope. Hope!. Obama is getting all credit. They didn't even take me on the class trip. My essay got rejected by the teacher. My friends, Gramm was right. We have become a nation of whiners. And I am the top whiner. Boo-Hoo. There is media bias against me.
Both of us started out as war candidates. I was for it. He was against it. Obama saw ahead where the rest of the world will be and proposed a 2010 deadline to withdraw. He smiled a lot and stayed firm on Iraq as he subtly changed himself into the economy candidate. I am left all alone, even Bush is for Timelines now. Maliki stabbed me in the back. I am fucked.
This is a rant against a fellow Democrat. If you can't stomach it please don't read any further.
There is an old joke about a guy running down the street with his clothes on fire. Another man comes up to him with a cigarette and asks
Hey, Buddy. Can I have a light?
That is Sen. Clinton for you.
Gas is $4.50. Banks are failing. People are struggling. We are in a tough race against John McCain for President. It is not an exaggeration to say that the fate of the world hangs in the balance. At the very least the fate of thousands of our soldiers and many more Iraqis.
McCain is exploiting loopholes in the law ( which he wrote) toget supporters to pay as much as $100K per person. The RNC has a 2 to 1 advantage in fundraising over the DNC. In the midst of all this, what does Hillary Clinton want us to do?
Pay off her campaign debt!. Talk about selfish. Ran a spendthrift campaign, always spending more than she raised. Is worth at least $100M. And she wants the small contributors to Obama's campaign to pay her bills.
Raising $20M to pay Clinton's bills is not our priority.
