John McCain's Very Bad Week: A Cheat Sheet
| Fri Jul. 11, 2008 9:55 AM PDT
I was asked to appear on Hardball on Friday to discuss John McCain's week--that is, his very bad week. It's been tough to keep track of all that's gone wrong for him--all the self-inflicted wounds--in recent days. So I made a cheat sheet. Here it is.
* McCain adviser Phil Gramm remark: Americans who worry about the economy are "whiners" and there's no problem with the economy, just a "mental recession." McCain response: Gramm doesn't speak for me. But, um, that day Gramm was speaking for McCain, explaining McCain's economic policies to the Wall Street Journal editorial board.
* Called the fundamental funding mechanism of Social Security a "disgrace," essentially attacking the whole program.
* Released list of 300 economists who supposedly support his economic plan. Guess what? Not all of them do.
* Became visibly uncomfortable when asked whether health plans that cover Viagara should also cover birth control for women (after McCain surrogate/adviser Carly Fiorina raised this issue).
* Joked about killing Iranians with cigarette imports.
Continues Below
Continued From Above
* Attacked Obama for not voting for a bill designating the Iranian Revolutionary Guard a terrorist group. Whoops--McCain didn't vote for the bill, either.
* His campaign accused Obama of flip-flopping on Iraq. Politifact.com said that's not true.
* Denied ever saying he's not an expert on the economy. Well, he said it. Memory problems?
* McCain wants to stay in Iraq for as long as it takes and routinely blasts Obama as a defeatist for proposing a timetable for withdrawal. Yet Iraqi leaders said they now want to set up a timetable. There goes that issue.
* Campaign accused of screening reporters allowed to ask questions on its conference calls for the media, and did not declare, we do not screen.
* Claimed to have a perfect voting record on veterans affairs. Veterans groups disagree. (Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America gave him a grade of D.)
* Pledged to cut the deficit by end of his first term. Prominent experts said not possible.
* McCain campaign ad charged that Obama voted to raise taxes on people making as little as $32,000 a year. Factcheck.org said this is false.
* Pro-McCain RNC ad said Obama has no new energy solutions. But Obama proposes $150 billion in new tax credits for alternative energy.
I might have missed a few other McCain slip-ups of this week. But the Hardball segment was only scheduled for a few minutes. McCain supporters ought to hope the guy and his entire campaign take the weekend off.
Comments
Submitted by MsSwin (not verified) on Fri Jul. 11, 2008 12:35 PM PDT.
Seems McCain has been busy lately, what with still trying to get past his bomb, bomb, bomb Iran blurb, his running around distancing himself from his top financial who called Americans whiners for complaining about our economy, his disgraceful comments on Social Security, his even more disgraceful joke about killing Iranian citizens with foreign cigarettes, to distancing himself from any talk of viagra. And this was just Monday. The main is incredible, he still finds time to issue challenges 24/7 for Obama to appear before him.
I have a challenge for Mr. McCain.
John Sidney McCain is hereby challenged to meet with the little old librarian who was denied access to his public forum on public property, issued a tresspassing ticket and threatened with arrest for simply carrying a sign that said McCain = Bush - to answer a few of HER questions.
These "gaffes" are not an aberration for McCain. This is standard operating procedure for McCain and his campaign in unscripted and even in scripted events. He cannot stand up to any serious scrutiny.
This is "AS GOOD AS IT GETS."
McSquirrel has no idea what is going on this planet. He is just a surrogate for the Bush Administratin with lies and gimmicks. He has hired Graham who is a insider in wall street to make millions using loopholes that he took advantage of without disregard for the consequences on the American Public. He has shown disregard for the Veterans by voting against every bill that would had helped our wounded and living veterans. He has no respect for the working middle class and their problems. As far as he is concerned if you want to succeed marry a rich cow and laugh at everyone else.
I understand why he was such a lousy pilot - crashed 5 planes - and that was when he was young. He is just not all together. Terrifying to think that he could be president with that that type of judgment and lack of skills. Buchanan says "Bush on steroids" - possibly it is "Bush demented".
Submitted by BloggerRadio.com (not verified) on Sat Jul. 12, 2008 7:08 PM PDT.
Hey in sports there is a 10-Run 'Mercy Rule', shouldn't Politics have a 'Mercy Rule' for campaigns like McCain's Presidential bid?
Oh baby, this is gonna be a landslide of Biblical proportions.
I don't think the GOP could win this election even if they got Robert Mugabe from Zimbabwe to supervise it for them!
Hey in sports there is a 10-Run 'Mercy Rule', shouldn't Politics have a 'Mercy Rule' for campaigns like McCain's Presidential bid?
That's in "kiddie" sports, where misguided souls try to teach the little tykes that the world is "fair" and "cares about their feelings", knowing that is not how the world works at all.
You won't find a rule like that in Big Time Major League Sports, when Big Money & Major Prestige is at stake.
And that's what we're talking about with national politics.
If McCain is about to take a Goldwater or still worse, McGovern-like thrashing, you can bet the Dems will do everything in their power to deliver one.
The only question then, will be, are they going to deliver on all their promises, better than they've delivered on their "just give us a majority and we'll":
1. End the war in Iraq
2. Hold Bush/Cheney accountable for their crimes
3. Do something about the price of gas
4. Etc., etc., etc...
promises of 2006.
If not, then look for another "Jimmy Carter Scenario". Carter being elected after Agnew and then Nixon had to resign in disgrace, and the Appointed President Carter narrowly defeated seemed like a bumbling fool.
Democrats were absolutely floating talking with certainty that the Republicans were FINISHED as a factor in American politics for At Least 50 years.
I was around then, and enjoying the atmosphere..., happy as a cow in clover about the "demise" of the Repubs.
Turned out to take the Dems just 4 years to prove to the voters that they weren't really going to be what the country was looking for.
4 Years, and then the Repubs held the Whitehouse for the next 12, the House & Senate started to swing Republican, and R's held the Senate by 1980. Meanwhile Dems watched their massive majority in the House dwindle and finally disappear by '94.
I'm convinced that there's a lesson in that very recent history, but I'm not sure any of today's Democrats care to absorb it.
You think these are gaffes. They are not. They are part of a carefully crafted propaganda mix that will confuse everyone completely. 25% of the electorate are koolaid drinkers who will vote for a corpse so long as it's wearing a flag lapel. It is only necessary to lock in one third of the remaining voters (actually less) to win. McCain correctly perceives opportunity in obscurantism. Listen, you can hear Tom DeLay leading the chant at the GOP convention: "Four more years, four more years..."
Here's another one: He told Pittsburgh voters that under torture and interrogation, he had recited the names of the Pittsburgh Steelers linemen when asked about the names of people in his flight squadron. The problem is that Senator Popeye has repeatedly told that story about the Green Bay Packers; it is a central anecdote of his book and his stump speech. Talk about pandering!
I agree with some other posters that we should not "misunderestimate" this moron as we did the last one the Republican puppet-masters put up. It is clear that the way it works is that a Republican president or candidate for president says something ridiculous on its face, and we detractors may laugh -- but the joke could be on us, again.
The true-believers, the Bushbot Republicans, need only absurdities and falsehoods to motivate them. Like some of my conservative relatives, they have become stupid, on purpose. Whatever Bush told them, however absurd, they believed. Whatever McCain tells them, they'll believe -- even if they are actually aware of the absurdity, or the mendacity, of what he says. The Republican constituency has lost touch with reality and will rigidly embrace the idiocies of their candidate, even if they know he is lying or being stupid. They perfected this form of cognitive dissonance under Bush, and there is no evidence to show they will suddenly become sane any time soon.
Sadly, neither McCain nor Obama have a clue, as neither support the FairTax, which eliminates the Federal tax for all, business and personal, eliminates the IRS and reduces the current 65,000 page tax code to 122 pages. FairTax, supported currently by over 70 members of Congress, would make the US a prosperous nation while eliminating debt. If you don't know anything about FairTax go to FairTax.org Ask both candidates why they will not even address the issue of FairTax... the answer... the $$$ they receive from lobbyists scared of the FairTax.
John McCain is made by the media because if ordinary
American did what he did in the Navy he or she will never be allowed go near any plane.
He brought some man from Vietnam to support him but the Vietnamese man said that
the senator was never tortured
and told America what he was told to say support McCain.
As part of my duty as an American I am asking all of you to watch this video from Google videos to see how they cook the news before they present it to you & watch how they can make or destroy people and you'll never think of politics the same way again
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7344181953466797353&q=spin&ei=h...
McBrain-Drain seems to have aged well beyond his years. He will not hesitate to pander, flip-flop, gaffe, backstab, deny, lie and double-cross to get that golden office. However, his fitness to execute the most important office in the world (still) is in serious doubt. He cannot even remember making statements a week before denying he made them. Anyone who seriously loves this country should put his/her ideology aside and seriously question this man's ability to solve some of the nation's most pressing problems, beginning with that money sink-hole that is Iraq, and the housing and energy nightmares that are sapping this nation's ability to care for its citizens.
Massimo: Thank you for pointing us to a fascinating, if sickening, video about how the media, political parties and campaigns, and other interests manipulate news and events to put the best spin on a given topic, thereby robbing the people of the truth. In the progress of our nation's history things seem to go from bad to worse. Thank God for the Internet where every citizen and activist for truth in media can expose the hypocrisy that saturates our country's political life. It seems to be a big game to those well-funded political operatives, and as usual the victims are the disenfranchised, the poor, and those among us who have the least voice. I take my hat off to you and I have already sent out the link to various people on my mailing list.
To sboyd18,thanks for paying attention to what America the beautiful going is through.
unfortunately,the only window
that we have to express our
opinions about our beloved country will be history some day I'm afraid !I am talking here about the Internet because I just read some where
that free speech is no longer protected on line I also found
out that Joe Lieberman wants
to censors the Internet especially Youtube !Can we do something about it ?
All the facts you have pointed out about McCain I hope are continually pointed out right up to the election. I would add his lack of support for the New GI Bill the Pres Bush did not give credit to where credit is do namely Sen Webb and Sen Hagel-Not McCain. What a travesty. Keep up the good work MOJO!!!
Submitted by MarkD (not verified) on Tue Jul. 15, 2008 10:14 AM PDT.
The Pro-McCain ad referenced(which is being broadcast in my state repeatedly) also makes the astonishing claim that suspending the gas tax would constitute a "conservation measure"--which is straight-up assbackwards; simple Econ 101, supply & demand, this measure would increase demand & consumption of gas. But of course it's a popular idea with a lot of voters, a great pandering device.
With all the attacks and NO ads declaring what he WILL do, McTheuselah will draw in all the ignorant moronic slobs that group Hillary and Bill Clinton, Jane Fonda, Michael Moore, Ted Kennedy, Dan Rather and many other liberals together in a heap. Their strategy is to evoke uninformed bigoted hate from the less educated and the easily led. Unfortunately in the world of ten second sound bites and attack ads, they have a good chance of winning. So Grab a beer, put in your CD of 'Achy Breaky Heart', Clean your shotgun, and dream of the days when all black, brown yellow and red people are run out of this country on a rail.
Submitted by Samara Link (not verified) on Sun Oct. 5, 2008 1:08 PM PDT.
None of us can be all places at all times. So, thank you for being there for us. What a mess that campaign is. I, for one, am thankful! Go Obama, go.
Submitted by fast (not verified) on Mon Dec. 1, 2008 7:03 PM PST.
Their strategy is to evoke uninformed bigoted hate from the less educated and the easily led. Unfortunately in the world of ten second sound bites and attack ads, they have a good chance of winning. So Grab a beer, put in your CD of 'Achy Breaky Heart', Clean your shotgun, and dream of the days when all black, brown yellow and red people are run out of this country on a rail.
