I offer the quote in the diary title thanks to Sam Stein on the Huffington Post, who unearthed this video of McCain MEETing Timmeh Russert -- for roughly the 70,000th time -- back in June 2005. Stein also posts a video, but unless I'm missing something, it doesn't seem like they allow you to embed it. (Grrrr.) If someone finds out otherwise, I'll cop to being dumb and update this diary with the video itself.
In the meantime, here's telling passage. Russert, ever a member of the John-McCain-is-a-Real-Cool-Maverick Booster Club, tries to bring back the golden days of Beltway media man-love for John McC:
RUSSERT: The fact is you are different than George Bush.
... OK, before we move on... given the fact that just last week, John McCain said this during his pitiful and sickeningly green-colored counterprogramming to Obama's St. Paul speech (bear with me please, long quote)...
You will hear from my opponent's campaign in every speech, every interview, every press release that I'm running for President Bush's third term. You will hear every policy of the President described as the Bush-McCain policy. Why does Senator Obama believe it's so important to repeat that idea over and over again? Because he knows it's very difficult to get Americans to believe something they know is false.
[McCain "more experienced" blather --snipped]
They've seen me put our country before any President -- before any party -- before any special interest -- before my own interest.
[further snippage]
I have worked with the President to keep our nation safe. But he and I have not seen eye to eye on many issues. We've disagreed over the conduct of the war in Iraq and the treatment of detainees; over out of control government spending and budget gimmicks; over energy policy and climate change; over defense spending that favored defense contractors over the public good.
I disagreed strongly with the Bush administration's mismanagement of the war in Iraq. I called for the change in strategy that is now, at last, succeeding where the previous strategy had failed miserably. I was criticized for doing so by Republicans. I was criticized by Democrats. I was criticized by the press.
...what would you expect the 2005 McCain to say to Russert's fanboy question?
One possible response:
REAL RUSSERT: The fact is you are different than George Bush.
PRETEND McCAIN: Yes, Tim. I'm different in some very fundamental ways. We may share a political party, but we simply don't agree on some crucial issues.
...That answer, or something like it, would at least be consistent with the 2008, who is trying to re-boot his long dead maverick credentials.
But look at the first two words out of 2005 McCain's mouth in the actual transcript / video:
REAL RUSSERT: The fact is you are different than George Bush.
REAL McCAIN: No. No.
McCain's first thought is to deny that he is different than George Bush. Remember, in 2005 the popularity that George W. Bush enjoyed in late 2001 - 2003 may have been waning, but it was not the sustained and obvious disaster for Republicans that it is today. And given that McCain is slow on the uptake in general, I suspect what was happening is that Russert -- who, for all his many many faults, does know who's UP and who's DOWN -- was starting to see the Bush was beginning a long slide into the cesspool, popularity-wise. McCain was still clueless, and hanging onto the last politically expedient thing to do -- show blind loyalty to his boss.
So here was McCain's full answer:
REAL RUSSERT: The fact is you are different than George Bush.
REAL McCAIN: No. No. I-the fact is that I'm different but the fact is that I have agreed with President Bush far more than I have disagreed. And on the transcendent issues, the most important issues of our day, I've been totally in agreement and support of President Bush.
John. John! Where was all the 2008 talk then? Where was all the maverick swagger? Where were you bravely criticizing the way the war was conducted?
...This is a total load of hooey, by the way. Again, McCain only started squeaking timidly about the conduct of the war when thousands of braver people had stepped up years before, and the polls were showing that this country was now disgusted about the Iraq situation. As always, McCain did what was politically handy --based on no greater principle than saving his own ass.
Sam Stein continues the story of the 2005 Timmeh-McSame conversation:
McCain went on to insist that, on domestic policies, he and the president had butted heads - which is true on issues like combating climate change and campaign finance.
"But," he quickly added, "I will argue my conservative record voting with anyone's, and I will also submit that my support for President Bush has been active and very impassioned on issues that are important to the American people. And I'm particularly talking about the war on terror, the war in Iraq, national security, national defense, support of men and women in the military, fiscal discipline, a number of other issues. So I strongly disagree with any assertion that I've been more at odds with the president of the United States than I have been in agreement with him."
Note: He STRONGLY disagrees.
McCain STRONGLY disagrees that he's been more at odds with George W. Bush than he has been in agreement with him. "Strongly" disagrees, the man insists.
Clearly, this is very important to McCain.
It's very important to John McCain that the American people know he's been in extremely close agreement with George W. Bush, every step of the way.
Let's help the old fella help with this, shall we?
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(One P.S. to john McCain. Re this part of your speech last week:
"We've disagreed over the conduct of the war in Iraq and the treatment of detainees;"
Well John, you were all too happy to get credit for advocating against torture. You like having your ass kissed as a maverick, after all. Who wouldn't?
But the fact is that you folded to your boss, George W. Bush, and gave him everything he wanted on torture. You supported Bush's torture and detention policy.
Just to set the record straight, Senator Lying Sack of Hammers.)
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