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RedditO.K., let me get this straight:
Polls and anecdotal evidence tell us that Republican President George Bush is dramatically unpopular -- with approval ratings that have dipped into the low 30s or high 20s.
Polls suggest that Republican Vice President Dick Cheney -- Bush's running mate in 2000 and 2004 -- may well be the least popular elected official in the American history.
Now comes a report from Arianna Huffington, the driving force behind the essential HuffPost online news and commentary operation, that the presumptive Republican nominee for president, John McCain, once indicated that he did not vote for the Bush-Cheney ticket in 2000.
McCain says that this is not the case, that he did indeed vote for Bush and Cheney -- despite the fact that the Bush campaign had smeared him and his family when the Arizona senator was challenging the then-governor of Texas for the GOP nomination in 2000.
Someone is stretching the truth.
And no one who knows Arianna Huffington and John McCain -- as has been my privilege over many years -- thinks that Arianna is the one peddling falsehoods.
But let's be clear about one thing: This story is not hurting John McCain.
At a point when even conservatives are registering record levels of disdain for a sitting Republican president, it is hard to imagine anything more beneficial to John McCain than the reminder that the senator never had much affection for George Bush or Dick Cheney.
In fact, it may well be that the only way for John McCain to emerge as a viable presidential contender in the fall of 2008 is if most Americans believe that he is -- for reasons of politics and personal relations -- lying about casting a vote for George Bush in the fall of 2000.
- Atrios
- Arts and Letters Daily
- The Caucus
- Campus Progress
- Crooks and Liars
- The Daily Gotham
- Daily Kos
- FAIR
- Feministe
- Feministing
- Firedoglake
- Glenn Greenwald
- Gothamist
- In these Times
- Hendrick Hertzberg
- Huffington Post
- Matthew Yglesias
- Media Matters
- Mother Jones
- My DD
- New York Review of Books
- Openleft
- Pam's House Blend
- Political Wire
- The Progressive
- RaceWire
- Real Clear Politics
- Roberto Lovato
- Romenesko
- Talking Points Memo
- Ta-Nehisi Coates
- Tapped
- Tech President
- Tompaine
- The Washington Note
- Wonkette
IBB's right.
He's playing a dangerous game.
1. Move too far or even reject Bush and Cheney and the 28% Club (Rush, Sean, LVLIB, PONTI, etc.) get even MORE pissed at him and stay home on November 4th.
2. NOT move far enough away from Bush, and he loses ANY chance of winning over independents and moderates.
I think he'll favor #2....and simply have surrogates scare the Hard Right with tales of a "socialist Black Panther-type coming to take their money and date their daughters"....while he courts the Middle with acceptance of global warming, affirmative action, closing Gitmo, and immigration reform.
Posted by Mask at 05/09/2008 @ 3:31pm
Who gives a damn about what benefits McC's campaign? Are the Nation's editors now in the business of advising the GOP on how to win? Or is the Dem intra-party dispute settled de facto & you don't know what the hell to write about, given the daily, not weekly, demands of a web site.
Relax. Read. Reference other work that may be informative, insightful, interesting to Nation readers.
We're not terribly concerned about helping the GOP with advice, unsolicited or otherwise.
Talk to the Dems. Obama is the nominee, Obama is the next president. So the interesting developments are now Obama's coattails, his cabinet, his administration's policies.
Think & write about that, if you wish to have a progressive impact on our future.
Posted by sloper at 05/09/2008 @ 3:33pm
Posted by sloper at 05/9/2008
Slope, I SERIOUSLY doubt that John McCain is going to take advice from John Nichols of "The Nation"....
or NOT think of something well before John Nichols does, that could be helpful!
Posted by Mask at 05/09/2008 @ 3:41pm
The thing I find amazing about McIdiot is the crap he and his campaign folks keep saying about earmarks and how McBush hasn't used earmarks in his home state.
The question any reasonable person would ask themsevles is, why hasn't John McCain used earmarks to help his state get some valuable pork hidden amongst the B.S. the senate crafts on a regular basis? Might it be that Arizona is has a ton of defense contractors working in that state and that quite a bit of the defense budget is thown into his state so he doesn't have to use earmarks?
This guy is no saint, and has been caught in so many lies that the only people who have lied more to the public than him are Bush and Cheney.
Posted by Wolfgang1 at 05/09/2008 @ 4:17pm
Posted by HAPPY3 at 05/9/2008 |
Hey, HAPP....In 1972, almost 60 percent of Americans approved of the way Nixon was handling the war.
What's Bush's figure?
Posted by Mask at 05/09/2008 @ 4:30pm
Sounds like Huffington is trying to HELP McCain!
Her story attempts to undermine the "Bush third-term" strategy with McCain. I never thought Ariana was very progressive anyway and it wouldn't surprise me if she supports McCain for president.
Voting for Bush or not, McCain wants to CONTINUE Bush's war, wants to CONTINUE Bush's tax cuts for the wealthy, wants to CONTINUE trickle down economics that never seems to trickle, wants to CONTINUE Bush's effort to drill for more oil rather than developing the technology that will make us independent from it, and wants to CONTINUE appointing conservative activist judges that want to take America back to the dark ages.
McCain may not of voted for Bush, but so what?
Posted by Metteyya at 05/09/2008 @ 4:48pm
did mccain vote in florida?
this could change history!
Posted by frosty zoom at 05/09/2008 @ 5:00pm
In 2000, the dems should have had an operation chaos to support McCain. IF he had won (or even been appointed like bush) in 2000 he would have been exponetially better than Bush and we would not be in the mess we are in.
However, he is definately not the man to fix our current crises as his policies are much too similar to the current administration. We need someone who has the potential to bring change, even if it is only "hope" for change.
Posted by Extraneous at 05/09/2008 @ 5:16pm
Happy, how would an Obama presidency ruin Hope, and worsen race relations?
Posted by nicR at 05/09/2008 @ 5:16pm
Hey, we got a new box to type in! Yee-ha!
Whether or not he voted for Bush, he hasn't exactly been racing to disassociate himself from Bush/Cheney or their insane policy agenda(s).
I give voters a little more credit. I think they can distinguish between 100 more years in Iraq, and "I didn't vote for Bush."
Republicans will likely support McCain, irrespective of his putative connections or absence of connections to the present regime. (Who the hell knows what goes on in those TOP SECRET meetings I alluded to yesterday).
Hopefully, some conservative voters will absorb a granule or two of common sense and realize that, ideology aside, four more years of the same old shit is not going to help the country out of the mess it is in presently. Maybe those voters will switch to Obama! We've seen some of that during the primary season from hell.
We used to be a nation of common-sense citizens. It was one of our most notable features as a culture. All that went out the window beginning in 1980. Need I say more?
Posted by jackwells at 05/09/2008 @ 5:16pm
It doesn't matter what Bush's figure is.....---Posted by HAPPY3 at 05/9/2008
ROFLMAO!
So first you WANT a "Obama is McGovern, McCain is Nixon"....then when history fails to back up your analogy, you switch to "It doesn't matter!" and change the subject.
You REALLY think nobody notices???
Posted by Mask at 05/09/2008 @ 5:30pm
Happy,
Your posts here are about as insightful as a John Hagee sermon.
But that's okay, just keep pissin' into the wind and see what good it does ya.
But I digress.
For anyone who's looking for more refreshing fare, there's the Charlie Rose interview of Bill Moyers from Thursday night which is available in streaming video at CharlieRose.com.
I highly recommend it.
Posted by b_kool_66 at 05/09/2008 @ 5:32pm
The fact that anyone believes anything that Arianna says is amazing.
This just shows how worried the left is about McCain. People like AH may be liars and manipulators of truth, but she isn't an idiot.
They know that only be repeatedly stating lies about McCain do they have a chance to beat him.
As I said on other threads, the electoral map is strongly favoring McCain. I see him taking at least 32 states. That will probably give him 290-300 electoral votes and a comfortable win in November.
Nichols, the more honest statement would be leftists better hope that voters don't care that Arianna is a liar.
Posted by lvliberty1 at 05/09/2008 @ 5:34pm
And another thing...........
Hey, Nationheads.
If you missed it, the Bill Moyers Journal interview from last Friday of The Nation's Victor Navasky and Christopher Cerf on the occasion of the release of their book, "Mission Accomplished! Or How We Won the War in Iraq". It's about 25 minutes long and very well worth the time --great banter.
The first five minutes of introductory material alone --with fascinating footage of your favorite neocons quaintly feeding us enormous piles bullshit presented on the silver plater of "expert advice"-- is priceless.
Enjoy this one!
~Just google Bill Moyers Journal
Posted by b_kool_66 at 05/09/2008 @ 5:49pm
I like the silly prediction thing that some do here... On this, McCain not voting for Bush, I am predicting the story doesn't have one-tenth the legs of either Wright-racistgate or Bitter-elististgate.
Posted by winyahn at 05/09/2008 @ 5:56pm
the Burmese junta, which has ruled the country since'62 is NOT communist.
Posted by emile duBois at 05/09/2008 @ 6:03pm
As I said on other threads, the electoral map is strongly favoring McCain. I see him taking at least 32 states. That will probably give him 290-300 electoral votes and a comfortable win in November.
~Posted by The Reverend Run (if you happen to see my liberty) at 05/9/2008
About the only thing we agree on is the expertise of Ian Anderson as a flautist and guitarist.
But Reverend, you are the epitome of Tull's lyrics in their superb "Thick as a Brick" masterwork.
just a small snippet:
See there! A son is born -- and we pronounce him fit to fight. There are black-heads on his shoulders, and he pees himself in the night. We'll make a man of him put him to trade teach him to play Monopoly and to sing in the rain.
In any case, I have your prediction here for the 2008 election.
After November you ought to be voted off the island along with many other of the misguided imbeciles --like Monsta' Maasch and Sad Sack (Happy) to name a couple of first rate bunglers-- who post here all too frequently.
Posted by b_kool_66 at 05/09/2008 @ 6:06pm
>>>'Race Is Over': Polling Firm to Quit Asking Clinton Questions Last Edited: Friday, 09 May 2008, 1:27 PM CDT Created: Friday, 09 May 2008, 1:27 PM CDT Sen. Hillary Clinton speaks at a rally in Dallas on Feb. 22.
National polling firm Rasmussen Reports announced on Friday that it will stop polling people about the presidential campaign of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton because her opponent, Sen. Barack Obama, will win the Democratic nomination.
The company's vice president of finance and operations, Michael Boniello, distributed an e-mail stating that after 19 months of tracking the Democratic race, it is now clear that Clinton will remain a close second.
The following is an excerpt from Boniello's e-mail:
"The most remarkable feature of the race has been its consistency and stability. Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are both running historic campaigns and both have captured the votes and hearts of distinct and important constituencies within the Democratic Party. Obama has won Primaries in states where the demographics favor his campaign and Clinton has won in the states that favor her campaign.
However, while Senator Clinton has remained close and competitive in every meaningful measure, she is a close second and the race is over. It has become clear that Barack Obama will be the Democratic nominee.
At the moment, Senator Clinton's team is busily trying to convince Superdelegates and pundits that she is more electable than Barack Obama …Even if every single Superdelegate was convinced that the former First Lady is somewhat more electable than Obama, that is not enough of a reason to deny him the nomination.
With this in mind, Rasmussen Reports will soon end our daily tracking of the Democratic race and focus exclusively on the general election competition between Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama."
The e-mail also stated that the Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Friday showed Barack Obama attracting 47 percent of the vote, while John McCain earned 44 percent.
Rasmussen Reports conducts daily tracking results via nightly telephone surveys. <<<
Posted by Metteyya at 05/09/2008 @ 6:10pm
Hey McCain lovers........
Here's some fascinating dope on your dope (a lengthy but entirely worthwhile excerpt of a Jeffrey St. Clair Counterpunch piece, "The Mark of McCain"):
McCain's the darling of the moment, the opinion press's favorite senator, a media-made maverick, who was sedulously courted by both John Kerry and George Bush. McCain, true to form, flirted with them both and sniped at them both, but in the end remained wedded to the GOP, even as the party fell further under the sway of neo-cons and Christian fundamentalists that McCain publicly claims to abhor.
But that's all part of the McCain profile. He is the senator of the hollow protest. McCain is nothing if not a political stunt man. His chief stunt is the evocation of political piety. From his pulpit in the well of the senate, McCain gestures and fumes about the evils of Pentagon porkbarrel. He rails about useless and expensive weapons systems, contractor malfeasance, and bloated R&B budgets.
But he does nothing about them. McCain pontificates, but never obstructs. Few senators have his political capital. But he does nothing with it. Under the arcane rules of the senate, one senator can gum up the works, derail a bad (or good, though those are increasingly rare in this environment) bill, dislodge non-germane riders, usually loaded with pork, from big appropriations bills. McCain is never that senator. He is content to let ride that which he claims to detest in press releases and senate speeches.
A recent example. In late October, McCain went on 60 Minutes to decry a footnote in the Defense Appropriations Bill of 2004 that transferred billions of dollars from so-called Operations and Maintenance accounts for US troops in Iraq to porkbarrel projects, such as gold mines and museums, in the states of powerful senators. In his stern voice before the cameras, McCain made congressional looting sound like a treasonable offense. But what he failed to disclose is the fact that he actually voted for the bill. Not only that, he was personally approached by each senator who wanted just such a transfer of funds and gave it his seal of approval.
McCain the Maverick is a merely a fine-honed act, underscored by these kinds of casual hypocrisies.
*************** In the past couple of years, McCain has been portrayed as one of the doves the senate. It's a stunning transformation and a phony one. Instead, throughout his career in Congress McCain has often been one of the hottest hawks around. During the war on Serbia in 1999, in one rhetorical bombing run after another, McCain bellowed for "lights out in Belgrade" and for NATO to "cream" the Serbs. At the start of May of that year he began declaiming in the US senate for NATO forces to use "any means necessary" to destroy Serbia.
McCain is often called a "war hero", a title adorning an unlovely resume starting with a father who was an admiral and graduation fifth from the bottom at the US Naval Academy, where he earned the nickname "McNasty". McCain flew 23 bombing missions over North Vietnam, each averaging about half an hour, total time ten hours and thirty minutes. For these brief excursions the admiral's son was awarded two Silver Stars, two Legions of Merit, two Distinguished Flying Crosses, three Bronze Stars, the Vietnamese Legion of Honor and three Purple Hearts. US Veteran Dispatch calculates our hero earned a medal an hour, which is pretty good going. McCain was shot down over Hanoi on October 26, 1967 and parachuted into Truc Boch Lake, whence he was hauled by Vietnamese, and put in prison...........
McCain is deeply loved by the liberal press. As Amy Silverman, a reporter at the Phoenix weekly New Times who has followed the senator for years, puts it, "As long as he's the noble outsider, McCain can get away with anything it seems -- the Keating Five, a drug stealing wife, nasty jokes about Chelsea Clinton -- and the pundits will gurgle and coo."
Indeed they will. William Safire, Maureen Down, Russell Baker, the New Yorker, the New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, have all slobbered over McCain in empurpled prose. The culmination was a love poem from Mike Wallace in 60 Minutes, who managed to avoid any inconvenient mention of McCain's close relationship with S & L fraudster Charles Keating, with whom the indulgent senator romped on Bahamian beaches. McCain was similarly spared scrutiny for his astonishing claim that he knew nothing of his wife's scandalous dealings.
McCain's escape from the Keating debacle is nothing short of miraculous and it's probably the activity for which he most deserves a medal. After all, he took more than $100,000 in campaign contributions from the swindler Keating between 1982 and 1988, while simultaneously logrolling for Keating on Capitol Hill. In the same period McCain took nine trips to Keating's place in the Bahamas.
When the muck began to rise, McCain threw Keating over the side, hastily reimbursed Keating for the trips and suddenly developed a profound interest in campaign finance and reform.
Yet McCain is legendary among those who have worked with him for a pathologically vicious temper, also for his skill in adopting apparently principled stands which are never exposed to any rigorous test.
The pundits love McCain because of his grandstanding on soft money's baneful role in politics, thus garnering for himself a reputation for willingness to court the enmity of his colleagues.
In fact, colleagues in the Senate accurately regard McCain as a mere grandstander. They know that he already has a big war chest left over from the corporations that crave his indulgence, as chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee. Communications companies (US West, Bell South, ATT, Bell Atlantic have been particularly effusive in McCain's treasury, as have banks, military contractors and UPS. They also know he has a rich wife and the certain knowledge that his supposed hopes for an end to soft money spending will never receive any practical legislative application.
***************
John McCain says he models himself after TR. "I'm a Teddy Roosevelt kind of Republican", McCain told a crowd of about 1,000 people in East Lansing, Michigan. "I believe America needs a strong leader. And most Republicans take in pride in identifying with TR, who believed that second only to the national defense, one of our most important public duties is to wisely husband the country's natural resources. Like TR I'll be the kind of president who will have the courage stand up to the special interests and no. There are some things they just can't have." The crowd of students plus those elusive Reagan Democrats cheered lustily as McCain raised his arms in his now customary crimped victory salute.
Two days later McCain was in Spokane, capital of Washington's Inland Empire, where the Republican Party is dominated by big timber, big agriculture and the hydro-power conglomerate that includes the aluminum factories, the barge fleets and the pulp mills. Over his 18-year career in the House and Senate John McCain has rarely let them down. He has supported property rights legislation, backed the salvage logging rider, fought measures for stricter control over pesticides and harshly denounced proposals to breach dams on the Columbia and Snake Rivers to save endangered salmon.
Even in that crowd, McCain claimed to be a conservationist: "It's possible for a conservative president to be an environmentalist." So the question is what kind of environmentalist is John McCain?
McCain has confused many observers. Even staunchly Democratic organizations such as the League of Conservation Voters, can't seem to find it in themselves to pin him down on the environment. The League's profile of McCain notes that "on most issues dealing with Arizona, National Park protection and auto-efficiency standards, his record ranges from good to excellent". But the group's own annual ranking (heavily prejudiced against Republicans, it must be admitted) gives the Arizona senator a lifetime rating of only 20 per cent. Several years he rated a zero.
When he's out West, McCain is fond of saying that his political mentor was Barry Goldwater. But McCain is no Goldwater. And that's not a compliment. Goldwater was, essentially, a western populist, a Libertarian version of Mike Mansfield, Lee Metcalf and Frank Church. Goldwater always had a passion for the outdoors and in the end singled out as his greatest political regret his vote to authorize the construction of Glen Canyon dam. McCain is not one for searing self-scrutiny. As with the rest of his political agenda, McCain's environmentalism has always been pointedly opportunistic. Voting for a popular Arizona wilderness bill when he faced a tough election..............
"If there's one thing we know about McCain, it's that he can't be trusted", says Roger Featherstone, director of the GREEN, an Albuqueque, New Mexico environmental group. "Anybody who promotes McCain is environmentalist is either an idiot or a liar." Much of the blame for McCain's reputation can be laid to our gullible press. Living on Earth, the NPR environmental show, recently produced a puff piece touting McCain as the Senate's most environmentally conscious Republican. Of course, most of McCain's act is scripted for the photo op. When the chips are on the table, McCain can be counted on to do the bidding of industry. Take the issue of subsidies. In 1996, McCain introduced a bill that would have slashed corporate welfare, including millions in subsidies to big timber in form of federally funded logging roads. The measure was enthusiastically received by liberals and the Washington press corps, which wasted no time hailing McCain as a "maverick" and a "renegade Republican". But a few months later McCain had the opportunity to make part of his plan reality, but he defected, voting against a measure offered by then-Senator Richard Bryant, the Nevada Democrat, that would have eliminated the very same timber road subsidies. McCain didn't explain his flip-flop.
McCain played a malign role in one of Arizona's most controversial issues, the mad scheme by the University of Arizona to erect seven deep space telescopes on national forest lands at the summit of Mt. Graham. Mt. Graham is known as a sky island, a lush montane oasis rising out of the Sonoran desert. In its upper reaches, Mt. Graham is cloaked in a dense alpine spruce-fir forest unique in the world. It is home to more than 18 endangered plants and animals, the most famous of which is the Mt. Graham red squirrel, found nowhere else. Mt. Graham is not only an ecological marvel, it is also a sacred mountain to the San Carlos Apache.
Neither of these factors carried weight with McCain, who was hell-bent on doing favors for the University. He duly introduced legislation exempting the $520 million project from compliance with the Endangered Species Act, Antiquities Act and the Native American Religious Freedom Act.
In the spring of 1989, the Forest Service began to raise questions about the project. Worried about the impacts on the endangered Mt. Graham red squirrel, Jim Abbott, the supervisor of the Coronado National Forest, ordered a halt to road construction at the site. The delay infuriated McCain. On May 17, 1989, Abbott got a call from Mike Jimenez, McCain's chief of staff. Jimenez told Abbot that McCain was angry and wanted to meet with him the next day. He told Abbott to expect "some ass-chewing". At the meeting, McCain raged, threatening Abbott that "if you do not cooperate on this project [bypassing the Endangered Species Act], you'll be the shortest tenured forest supervisor in the history of the Forest Service." Unfortunately for McCain, there was a witness to this encounter, a ranking Forest Service employee named Richard Flannelly, who recorded the encounter in his notebook. This notebook was later turned over to investigators at the GAO.
A few days later, McCain called Abbott to apologize. But the call sounded more like an attempt to bribe the Forest Supervisor to go along with the project. According to a 1990 GAO report on the affair, McCain "held out a carrot that with better cooperation, he would see about getting funding for Mr. Abbott's desired recreation projects". Environmentalists attempted to bring an ethics complaint against McCain, citing a federal law that prohibits anyone (including members of Congress) from browbeating federal agency personnel. The Senate ethics committee never pursued the matter. When the GAO report, condemning McCain, surfaced publicly, McCain lied about the encounter, calling the allegations "groundless" and "silly"
In 1992, Robin Silver and Bob Witzeman went to meet with McCain at his office in Phoenix to discuss Mt. Graham. Silver and Witzeman are both physicians. Witzeman is now retired and Silver works in the emergency room at Phoenix hospital. The doctors say that at the mention of the words Mount Graham McCain erupted into a violent fit. "He slammed his fists on his desk, scattering papers across the room", Silver tells us. "He jumped up and down, screaming obscenities at us for at least 10 minutes. He shook his fists as if he was going to slug us. It was as violent as almost any domestic abuse altercation."
Witzeman left the meeting stunned: "I'm a lifelong environmentalist, but what really scares me about McCain is not his environmental policies, which are horrid, but his violent, irrational temper. I think McCain is so unbalanced that if Vladimir Putin told him something he didn't like he'd lose it, start beating his chest about having his finger on the nuclear trigger. Who knows where it would stop. To my mind, McCain's the most likely senator to start a nuclear war."
Posted by b_kool_66 at 05/09/2008 @ 6:35pm
By the way. In the lengthy (but oh so enjoyable) above piece, the bit about McCain's 13 medals in less than 13 hours of flight time makes him a fraud not a hero.
Reminds me of those cold war images of Soviet generals with fruit salads so huge that they appear to cause a slouched posture.
"two Silver Stars, two Legions of Merit, two Distinguished Flying Crosses, three Bronze Stars, the Vietnamese Legion of Honor and three Purple Hearts"
To anyone with military service, or who understands the criteria for those awards, that's patently absurd, and can only be construed as medal inflation for the son and grandson of Admirals.
And it was accomplished while bombing civilian populations in the North.
McCain's a disgrace, not a hero.
Posted by b_kool_66 at 05/09/2008 @ 6:49pm
Hey, HAPP....In 1972, almost 60 percent of Americans approved of the way Nixon was handling the war.
What's Bush's figure?
Posted by Mask at 05/9/2008
Not really relevant now. As stated here and elsewhere, Dems were elected to a majority in Congress to STOP the war over 2 years ago, and it hasn't even been brought to a serious discussion. Looks like a moot issue to voters.
b-kool......gettin' your Rese on??
Posted by Sliver at 05/09/2008 @ 7:04pm
b-kool......gettin' your Rese on??
Posted by Sliver at 05/9/2008
Nice try, Slither.
It's a bit of a protest against the lack of html tags that would normally allow me to conveniently link items of interest.
I'll continue to post occasional lengthy excerpts from time to time. Especially if they are as absorbing as the St. Clair piece I posted above.
I'm certain that many here find these posts to be worth their time, unlike much of the running gibberish that Rese is so famous for.
You can always slither away if it doesn't suit you.
Posted by b_kool_66 at 05/09/2008 @ 7:22pm
Looks like a moot issue to voters.----Posted by Sliver at 05/9/2008
HAPP trying to make the case that "Obama is McGovern" and that "even in an unpopular war, the public won't vote for a 'extreme liberal'"....
I showed how Nixon and Vietnam was a mirror image of Bush AND McCain and Iraq...so his historical analogy failed.
As for "the public doesn't care" (your theory)....why does it still rank #2 (after the economy) on Top Issues Concerning the American people?
And...is it possible that folks are pissed at the Congress for NOT ending it (the low Congressional approvals YOU guys love to cite)?
And is it also possible that given a choice between a guy who'll keep us there "until victory"...and then "100 years" more....and a guy who's promised to start getting us out....
they might not want "McSame"?
Posted by Mask at 05/09/2008 @ 7:28pm
Posted by b_kool_66 at 05/9/2008
BTW, b_kool, isn't it interesting how the guys who used to care about the dalliances of Bill Clinton outside of marriage....
and John Kerry being a "gold-digger" and marrying an heiress for her money....
don't seem to be that concerned when John McCain does BOTH!
Posted by Mask at 05/09/2008 @ 7:31pm
Someone above wrote that as she looks at the electoral map, she sees McCain winning. Please send whatever drugs you are taking.
Posted by onthehelm at 05/09/2008 @ 7:32pm
Not really relevant now. As stated here and elsewhere, Dems were elected to a majority in Congress to STOP the war over 2 years ago, and it hasn't even been brought to a serious discussion. Looks like a moot issue to voters.
b-kool......gettin' your Rese on??
Posted by Sliver at 05/9/2008 | ignore this person
still whistling in the dark, are you? the war not relevant now? wait until election day, the relevance will re appear.
the congress way of doing things has changed. no longer is it a majority that can change the ship of state's course.
the dems will likely have that super majority.
Posted by emile duBois at 05/09/2008 @ 8:00pm
".. essential HuffPost online "
Many describtions come to mind regarding Huffington,....but essential ain't one of them...
Posted by JOMAMMA at 05/09/2008 @ 8:31pm
Happy just doesn't like Dems. So he upholds that any Dem in presidency will ruin everything for everyone forever. An Obama presidency at the very worst will accomplish nothing. So no it won't ruin race relations and it won't ruin this country. It can't make things an worse unless he gets us in 3 more wars and takes a dump on the economy.
Posted by Cccomfo1 at 05/09/2008 @ 8:35pm
"In 2000, the dems should have had an operation chaos to support McCain..."
Posted by Extraneous at 05/9/2008
The Dems ARE chaos...just look at them...famous for circular firing squads.
Posted by JOMAMMA at 05/09/2008 @ 8:36pm
Posted by LibsWarnedU at 05/9/2008
You really should look up what a real conservative means, what being conservative means to one who identifies himself as a conservative.....and then you might not look so foolish...
Posted by JOMAMMA at 05/09/2008 @ 8:40pm
McCain's a disgrace, not a hero.
Posted by b_kool_66 at 05/9/2008
SHAME ON YOU..I am not a McCain lover, but you are a disgrace as a human...fuck you and consider your self ignored...enjoy Reese.
Posted by JOMAMMA at 05/09/2008 @ 8:43pm
lots of that has to do with high gas prices....which just happens to coincide with the Demos taking control of House & Senate whose energy policy is to stop filling the Strategic Oil Reserve, LOL!!!
happy3
dude, the price has gone up because all that "unimportant" debt is dragging the dollar to the mariana trench
Friday, May 9, 2008 9:38:51 PM
Posted by frosty zoom at 05/09/2008 @ 9:33pm
Change this country's race relations for the worse.
Posted by HAPPY3
so much nonsense packed into one post.
Posted by frosty zoom at 05/09/2008 @ 9:36pm
--McCain's a disgrace, not a hero.
--Posted by b_kool_66 at 05/9/2008
----SHAME ON YOU..I am not a McCain lover, but you are a disgrace as a human...fuck you and consider your self ignored...enjoy Reese.
----Posted by JOMAMMA at 05/9/2008
Well, well, well............
It took an honest evaluation of the McCain myth to elicit your true colors vis-a-vis me.
I realize that you live in your own little patriotic bubble and are so proud of your son's service in the Navy, but the facts in my own case are that I have served honorably in the USMC, and have my own distinct memories of those whom I served with who measured up to the ideal of "honorable", but McCain's story is full of holes.
I'll grant that much nuance may exist in McCain's case, but he's never exhibited even the mildest indication that he understands what a disastrous and foolish endeavor the Vietnam war was.
In the final analysis, anyone who has fought and killed in a war --and make no mistake, McCain is responsible for the deaths of many innocent civilians-- who exhibits absolutely no remorse for the tragedy they've contributed to is a monster in my estimation.
It really is that simple. And McCain's entire history is that of a "man" who refuses to man-up to the reality of what he's done in his past.
So, Monsta', even though I kinda' like you in an odd way, if you choose to "ignore" me that's really no skin off of my nose per se.
Best of luck to you as you sail along on your personal sea of ignorant bliss.
~B Kool
Posted by b_kool_66 at 05/09/2008 @ 11:20pm
Anyone noticed that Happy is getting more and more non-sensical lately? I think his investments must not be doing well or something because he seems more and "bitter" lately and less and less HAPPY.
Posted by Cccomfo1 at 05/10/2008 @ 07:09am
Posted by b_kool_66 at 05/9/2008
B_K_66,
Thanks for the magesterial post on John McShitStain that pulls together what makes Senator SuckUp a phony, a sham, a gold-digging gasbag. The self-important, navel-gazing posturing is in itself what undoubtably accounts for the admiration for McShitStain that comes from the likes of the blubbering low-brow "Libertarian for Torture and Invasion" JOMAMA, the Bard of Beerfart.
Thanks again, B_K ...
Posted by LV-LIBERTY-2 at 05/10/2008 @ 10:10am
Anyone noticed that Happy is getting more and more non-sensical lately? I think his investments must not be doing well or something because he seems more and "bitter" lately and less and less HAPPY.
Posted by Cccomfo1 at 05/10/2008
Maybe it is because his beloved junta in Burma is being exposed on national TV daily.
JOMMAMA, it appears to me that a "conservative" is what you want it to be on any particular day. Taking your viewpoint of what a con may be, , I am just tickled pinky that there is not a single conservative on the presidential ballot. So much for your, and LUVVYS, ideas of "mainstream". The people have tossed the conservative agenda after watching it in action since Newt started his Contract on American wage earners and the national budget.
oh, well. Maybe you will get your wish and the totalitarian socialist Chinese will buy us up
Posted by crabwalk at 05/10/2008 @ 10:14am
As others have pointed out, the irony of McCain: flip flopper, gold digger, angry "hero", being the flag bearer for those that accused Kerry of being a flip flopping gold digging fake hero...
is just too rich, and creamy with Madagascar cinnamon and a shot of hypocrite flavored syrup.
Zero shame.
zero shame.
But, what should we expect from those that voted for Bush twice? A man who never had a real job, never completed his contractual obligations to his country, never knew what it is like to have to earn a buck, never left the country before becoming the "Leader of the Free World" and could not even speak his native tongue without falling over his forked tongue? Those that still, to this day, will swear that Bush never lied and the Iraq war is "worth it"?
and to say that McCain is weaker than Bob Dole? I don't think so.
Posted by crabwalk at 05/10/2008 @ 10:25am
But, I will agree with JOMMAMA about Arianna huffington being "essential".
Puh-lease.
Just keep in mind, for decades she was a "real" conservative, given the spotlight to trumpet the party line. It was only when she switched "sides" that the cons suddenly found her to be a windbag.
Posted by crabwalk at 05/10/2008 @ 10:27am
Mr. Huffington is the ideal American, though!!! "Self made" magnate.
So what if he prefers a Fleshlight over his bony ex-wife. That is the glory of being a wealthy white man in America, one can dump the old wife for new toyz and it is glazed over because one is wealthy, and that is what makes a man a man in con-world. Too bad he is not a "real" con though.
the funniest part is that he was in charge of "arms control" under Ray-gun, the guy that sold weapons to Iran, Sandanista murder squads and Usama Bin forgotten.
Posted by crabwalk at 05/10/2008 @ 10:36am
CRAB,
I recall the first time that I saw John McShitStain speak on TV was during the 1988 campaign. McShitStain and John Sunnunu were designated attack puppies by the Repugnant camp. So, in my mind, McShitStain was laways a Dole-esque politcal hack and hatchet wielding party liner whom the weak-minded low-brow conservaLosers shabbily attempted to rehab into a "statesman" when each become the standard bearer for their grotesque party of slobs and never-worked-a-duy-in-their-lives bums.
As B_K_66's post makes exquistely clear, McShitStain's closet is full of scandel and grubby, self-interested posturing. One wonders if McShitStain will make it to November without soiling himself in public on top of it all, while the handerls furiously struggle with dribble down his chin as he mumbles Grandpa Simpson-esque nonense and drivel. Yesterday's man, who long ago reached his peak, a fucking stale old fart, that's John McShitStain.
Posted by LV-LIBERTY-2 at 05/10/2008 @ 10:36am
If Obama has a brain cell left, he will pick Richardson as his VP, and McBain will go down in flames. Perhaps worse than Dole.
But, never underestimate the ability of Americans to swallow the crapola that will be splashed over the airwaves. I am sure by October McBain will be the All American Straight Talker Lobbyist Killer Peace Bringer Incorruptible Budget Balancing Conservative Second Coming of Ray-gun.
It is a shame, because if McBain was who he portrayed himself as being, he could have been a contendah.
Posted by crabwalk at 05/10/2008 @ 10:49am
Posted by frankshitz at 05/10/2008
If the Rev Wright and Ayers were in some way associated with John McShitStain, F-SHITZ would put posters of them on his trailer wall and would right now be vigorously beating off over them, panting their names ("OOoo Ayyersss yeesss")as his masters Rush and Sean have instructed him to do. This is because there is no important distinction to be marked between F-SHITZ and a non-human animal like a particulary unattractive mangy dog that plays ideological games of "fetch" at the sound of his masters's voice; a low creature in the pecking order indeed.
Posted by LV-LIBERTY-2 at 05/10/2008 @ 12:17pm
(p.s. is he/she a medium?
Posted by mihnea at 05/10/2008)
XX-Large.
-----
( Texas really ought to declare independence, have the first female POTUS with Jena Bush.....heheheheh!!!
Posted by HAPPY3 at 05/10/2008 )
HAPPY2-BE-A-TRAITOR?
How's that for patriotism? Slams the 10th largest economy in the world for wanting to keep business, then calls for secession if he doesn't get his tax cuts.
Is this true, from Wiki?
"The economy of California is a dominant force in the economy of the United States, with California paying more to the federal system than it receives in direct monetary benefits."
I wonder, what is the technical difference between "corporate welfare" and "tax cuts for business"?
Posted by crabwalk at 05/10/2008 @ 12:37pm
hmmmm, does Iraq remind anybody else of The Alamo, without Sam Houston in the wings?
Posted by crabwalk at 05/10/2008 @ 12:38pm
HAPPY---3?
did you get happied (censored) again?
Do you see the irony between being #3 and "auto execution" yet?
Did you ever get the irony of "fighting for freedom" and "free speech zones"?
Are you now going to render me to the iggy pile again, censoring me from your happy world where? Or are you ready to answer a truly simple question? Methinks you will take the easy way out.
Posted by crabwalk at 05/10/2008 @ 12:43pm
Posted by HAPPY3 at 05/10/2008
Typically mindless rightwing crap.
If a suspect -- suspect, mind you -- gets tortured without a charge even having made in defiance of centuries of western law, if a civilian village gets obliterated, if a person is sentenced to life for stealing a pizza, or a fundy like Warren Jeffs goes on an underage rampage in the compound...they nod their heads solemnly and mouth pious words.
But...if a president ejaculates, a black man gets verbally angry, or someone re-invigorates a handle, they go APE-SHIT inventing new "outrages" to spazz about as they go along.
Anyone wonder why our nation needs to be cleansed of small-minded moralistic trash that is degrading our national capacities?
Where CRAPPY3 is concerned, I read almost nothing that he posts anyway as it is far beyond deadly dull blathering about his alleged bank account, as enlightening as a series of galloping gassers and belches. CRAPPY is merely a convenient target for the moment.
Posted by LV-LIBERTY-2 at 05/10/2008 @ 12:44pm
Do we have <i>HTML yet</i> to go with this nice box?
Thank you for the new box Nation staff!!!
Posted by crabwalk at 05/10/2008 @ 12:46pm
Posted by LV-LIBERTY-2 at 05/10/2008
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery-except when attempted by idiots.
Come back when you can substantiate that you are allowed out in public without an escort.
Posted by lvliberty1 at 05/10/2008 @ 2:46pm
Just keep in mind, for decades she was a "real" conservative, given the spotlight to trumpet the party line. It was only when she switched "sides" that the cons suddenly found her to be a windbag.
Posted by crabwalk at 05/10/2008 |
Dump em after a change seems normal.
Kinda like ALGORES running mate...huh?
Posted by JOMAMMA at 05/10/2008 @ 4:00pm
the Bard of Beerfart.
Posted by LV-LIBERTY-2
¿john shaft?
Posted by frosty zoom at 05/10/2008 @ 5:13pm
What's the proper salutation between people as they pass each other in this flood?
Posted by ibbleblibble
hold on.
Posted by frosty zoom at 05/10/2008 @ 5:16pm
Usama Bin forgotten.
Posted by crabwalk
wait till this october's comeback tour.
Saturday, May 10, 2008 5:23:00 PM
Posted by frosty zoom at 05/10/2008 @ 5:17pm
Texas really ought to declare independence, have the first female POTUS with Jena Bush
Posted by HAPPY3
nouveau haiti.......
Posted by frosty zoom at 05/10/2008 @ 5:19pm
hollywood.......
Posted by HAPPY3
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=12741465
SAW 17.3 TO BE FILMED IN CHINA!
Posted by frosty zoom at 05/10/2008 @ 5:22pm
"SHAME ON YOU..I am not a McCain lover, but you are a disgrace as a human...fuck you and consider your self ignored...enjoy Reese."
Posted by JOMAMMA at 05/9/2008
It's official. Poor maash has completely run out of inaccurate and misleading comebacks to facts posted.
He will now officially start ignoring the reality in which we exist.
Who knew that is all it would take..print the truth;
Hey john, McCain's a disgrace, not a hero.
"...and it is here you seem "young", almost all of your "debates" contain some sort of school yard name calling or emotion tantrum equivelant.
Silly, little girli like..
Posted by JOHN MAASCH 03/19/2007 @ 1:19pm"
Eric
Posted by Malcontent at 05/10/2008 @ 6:45pm
Posted by HAPPY3 at 05/10/2008
Confused here, Happy...
You want me to keep pointing out McCains actual deeds, words, and votes.
Whilst you endlessly loop the out of context quotes, of Somebody Who's Not Even A Candidate.
I guess that's a race of sorts.
A pointless race, like Amurican Idoll or the eneffel etc.
No wonder you're Happy.
You are easily amused.
Posted by Malcontent at 05/10/2008 @ 7:46pm
it was fun to see Maasch have a hissy fit.
Posted by emile duBois at 05/10/2008 @ 10:36pm
no, I didn't buy one for my son......I already hate the earlier version he's got (that I paid for)!
Posted by HAPPY3
well, people need "solace" in tough times.
my son has no video games.
he plays with something long forgotten:
toys and imagination.
i just can't fathom how people can be "entertained" by such barbarism.
Saturday, May 10, 2008 11:09:55 PM
Posted by frosty zoom at 05/10/2008 @ 11:04pm
The people have tossed the conservative agenda after watching it in action since Newt started his Contract on American wage earners and the national budget.
Posted by crabwalk at 05/10/2008 | ignore this person
You absolutely hit the mark there Crab.
remember when Fred Thompson was about to announce his 'run'. Maasch and Lying Larry just about wet their pants because he was the ONLY true conservative that was going to run and pretending the Democrats were scared silly at the prospect that we were finally going to see the uprising of conservatives who make up the vast majority of America.
Then old Fred captured, what, 3 delegates?...and dropped like a lead fishing weight. Turns out Maasch and Lying Larry (and Psycho Ponti and Ranting Rio) are just about the only ones left out there on far right fringe.
Now their only hope (and only choice) is a guy who has built his ENTIRE CAREER out of being a 'not-a-conservative-Republican' Republican.
Posted by Lillian at 05/11/2008 @ 02:44am
Since Mack is going the public financing route,...
Posted by HAPPY3 at 05/10/2008 | ignore this person
Grandpa Munster is "going the public financing route"?
Does that mean he's going to finally make his campaign 'legal'...
...and quit riding his wife's private corporate jet, the 'Sugar Momma Express', to all of his campaign stops?
http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/04/27/the-sugar-momma-express/
Posted by Lillian at 05/11/2008 @ 02:50am
Personally, I'd love to work for a 527, for free, to brain-storm edgy ads against Magic worthy of The Tonight Show!
Posted by HAPPY3 at 05/10/2008 | ignore this person
I'm imagining a commercial with Grandpa McCain aged face staring at a big red button that he keeps toying with on the desk. Then several nervous interns take turns trying to get his attention..."Sir, you have a call from Lincoln Savings and Loan"..."Sir, it's Charles Keating on line one. He says he REALLY needs your help". Then we cut to a montage of all of McNasty's infamous 'rants' and 'hissy fits' and abusive screaming...finally ending when Pops SLAMS his fist down on the big red button as he screams something in Vietnamese!
Yep, that ought to make one edgy ad.
Posted by Lillian at 05/11/2008 @ 03:04am
( I'm imagining a commercial with Grandpa McCain aged face staring at a big red button that he keeps toying with on the desk. Then several nervous interns take turns trying to get his attention..."Sir, you have a call from Lincoln Savings and Loan"..."Sir, it's Charles Keating on line one. He says he REALLY needs your help". Then we cut to a montage of all of McNasty's infamous 'rants' and 'hissy fits' and abusive screaming...finally ending when Pops SLAMS his fist down on the big red button as he screams something in Vietnamese!
Yep, that ought to make one edgy ad.
Posted by Lillian at 05/11/2008 |)
Or...
"Sir, we have a land speculator on line 3, he wants to trade some more outlying property for some prime federal land so he can "develop" it into campaign donations".
Or...
"sir, Achmed Chalibi is on line 4, he says we could invade Iran. He says it will be a cakewalk and we will be greeted as liberators. Should we cash his check?"
Or...
"sir, a Rev Hagee is on line 666. He wants to know why you support the Great Hippy Lie known as "climate change". He says the massive melting in the polar regions is actually Gods wrath against faggots. He also said something about flying horseys and Gog rising? Should we cash his check?"
Posted by crabwalk at 05/11/2008 @ 08:24am
And lets see what the "librool media" is saying about McCain the conservative...
Media Matters:
"In her latest column, posted online on October 29 and that will appear in the November 6 edition of U.S. News & World Report, U.S. News contributing editor and CBS News national political correspondent Gloria Borger asserted that "[n]o one would accuse [Sen. John] McCain [R-AZ] of equivocating on anything." Writing about the prospect of Sen. Barack Obama's (D-IL) running for president in 2008, Borger contrasted him with McCain, asserting that Obama's "penchant for wishy-washy is well documented." Yet as Media Matters for America has repeatedly noted, despite an abundance of well-documented backtracks, flip-flops, and inconsistencies, the media continue to describe McCain with words such as "honest" and "authentic" and generally regard him as an unwavering purveyor of "straight talk." Some examples of McCain's hedging include:
FLIP
FLOP
FLIP
FLOP
* McCain criticized TV preacher Jerry Falwell as "an agent of intolerance" in 2002, but since decided to cozy up to the man who said Americans "deserved" the 9/11 attacks. (Indeed, McCain has now hired Falwell's debate coach.)
* McCain used to oppose Bush's tax cuts for the very wealthy, but he reversed course in February.
* In 2000, McCain accused Texas businessmen Sam and Charles Wyly of being corrupt, spending "dirty money" to help finance Bush's presidential campaign. McCain not only filed a complaint against the Wylys for allegedly violating campaign finance law, he also lashed out at them publicly. In April, McCain reached out to the Wylys for support.
* McCain supported a major campaign-finance reform measure that bore his name. In June, he abandoned his own legislation.
* McCain used to think that Grover Norquist was a crook and a corrupt shill for dictators. Then McCain got serious about running for president and began to reconcile with Norquist.
* McCain took a firm line in opposition to torture, and then caved to White House demands.
* McCain gave up on his signature policy issue, campaign-finance reform, and won't back the same provision he sponsored just a couple of years ago.
* McCain was against presidential candidates campaigning at Bob Jones University before he was for it.
* McCain was anti-ethanol. Now he's pro-ethanol.
* McCain was both for and against state promotion of the Confederate flag.
* And now he's both for and against overturning Roe v. Wade.
Posted by crabwalk at 05/11/2008 @ 08:34am
John McCain, Straight Talker. January 10, 2008
"I don't believe we are headed into a recession. I believe the fundamentals of this economy are strong and I believe they will remain strong."
John McCain, flip flopper, May 9, 2008
"I would say that…oh…it's very likely and more and more economists are saying that we are probably – quote – in a recession."
Posted by crabwalk at 05/11/2008 @ 08:42am
Saturday, May 10, 2008 11:09:55 PM
Posted by frosty zoom at 05/10/2008 | ignore this person
go on buy the kid some video games. you wanna make him a social outcast? really mon ami, are you aiming for some kind of saint hood?
Posted by emile duBois at 05/11/2008 @ 10:37am
go on buy the kid some video games. you wanna make him a social outcast? really mon ami, are you aiming for some kind of saint hood?
Posted by emile duBois
if my son had more friends...........
that euro-mexi hybrid is the social star of his class.
he'll get his video games later.
great name for a rapper, though:
SAINT 'HOOD.
Posted by frosty zoom at 05/11/2008 @ 11:11am
Posted by ibbleblibble
hold on to letting go........
let go of holding on.........
Posted by frosty zoom at 05/11/2008 @ 11:14am
the-sugar-momma-express/
Posted by Lillian at 05/11/2008
ooh, where can i get me one of those?
Posted by frosty zoom at 05/11/2008 @ 11:15am
What's interesting, and this is atleast the secoond or third time he's done it...
HAPPY pointing out how the 527s will go after Obama.
So basically...he's admitting McCain can't win ...on the issues!
Posted by Mask at 05/11/2008 @ 1:12pm
issues?
Posted by frosty zoom at 05/11/2008 @ 1:27pm
the-sugar-momma-express/
Posted by Lillian at 05/11/2008
ooh, where can i get me one of those?
Posted by frosty zoom at 05/11/2008 | ignore this person
Sorry Frosty...you can't get one. They are very selective...and they get you!
It took her Daddy quite a while to find just the right war-hero for his little girl...and then she had to wait a whole year...until they successfully shoved carol out of the picture...before she could take full possession.
Posted by Lillian at 05/11/2008 @ 2:08pm
I have already posted that McCain will win on the issues.....---Posted by HAPPY3 at 05/11/2008
Really? According to polls, what are the major issues...and how will McCain win on them?
Posted by Mask at 05/11/2008 @ 5:01pm
issues?
Posted by frosty zoom at 05/11/2008 @ 11:19pm