In June, I wrote (with George Zornick) in Loving John McCain about the media's maddening blindness towards the extremism and/or crass political expediency of Senator John McCain:

On issue after issue, and from every side of the journalistic political spectrum, a campaign of deception and distortion has helped to ensure that McCain's extreme positions and politically inspired flip-flops remain far from the consciousness of the average voter. Just as the media-promoted notion that George W. Bush was the kind of guy with whom one might enjoy a few beers managed to obscure the predictable catastrophes that lay in store for this nation once he became President, so too can the deep-seated media denial of McCain's extremist policies and addiction to political expediency mask the fact that his victory in November would result in a continuation--and even, in some instances, an expansion--of the very policies that have brought the nation to the brink of irreversible disaster.

I hope that, 7,000 words later, we proved our case. A few months later, we've seen many more examples of the media's transgressions in this regard--although perhaps none better than what Tom Brokaw offered up yesterday in Denver. (Halperin was a close second, also yesterday.

The Joan Shorenstein Center on Press, Politics, and Public Policy held a talk, moderated by Judy Woodruff, between the Sunday show honchos-- Brokaw, Bob Schieffer, and George Stephanopoulos. Discussing McCain's success in the Republican primaries, Brokaw attributed it to the candidate's "indomitable will," and opined that McCain won by simply being "the most authentic...he wasn't trying to reinvent himself."

This is not only wrong, but diametrically, screamingly wrong. It's not a difficult point--McCain won the primaries specifically by reversing himself on taxes, immigration, the religious right, and virtually every other issue important to the hard right. These policies were not only blazingly visible--Mitt Romney and others called him on it loudly during the Republican debates--but obviously destructive, as the last eight years have proven.

And yet, here is Brokaw saying of the candidate who by far has done the most to change his positions that McCain was "the most authentic...he wasn't trying to reinvent himself." Remember, this isn't old, retired, mildly irrelevant Tom Brokaw. This is the new (for now) host of Meet the Press, and certainly someone who will be a prominent figure in the coverage of the allegedly most-liberal cable network during the elections.

Now, that's not to say that all the reporting has been bad... the New York Times had a probing story this weekend about the McCain family's path to wealth. It's long, but in it, we learn the following:

The wealth is almost all Cindy's--but she ain't an industrious success story. She inherited a beer distributorship from her father, for which she does little, if any, actual work: "She crisscrosses the country on the company jet, keeps an accountant on the company payroll to mind her personal finances, drives a company Lexus with 'MS BUD' plates and says she oversees the company's "strategic planning and corporate vision." Yet she almost never shows up in the office, is deemed an absentee owner by Anheuser-Busch and has left scarcely a mark on the company, present and former executives say."

The company does wield a lot of clout in Arizona politics, but usually to suspect ends. "Her business ... recently found itself at odds with advocates for pediatric hospital beds in Arizona's neediest communities and for a statewide childhood education program. When the advocates proposed initiatives that would raise liquor taxes, Hensley opposed them." Also, "At the national level, the company's priorities, fought for by the National Beer Wholesalers' Association, include rolling back the national excise tax of about 5 cents a beer, last raised in 1991, and fighting efforts by hard-liquor distillers to require labels showing the amount of alcohol in a standard serving. The beer lobby also successfully opposed a bill to pay for television advertisements combating under-age drinking."

Read it and weep in your beer.... (haha, I know we're only wine drinkers here at The Nation....)

Comments (58)

1. Last I heard the reason Obama's campaign isn't hitting McPOWhowmanyMANSIONS campaign harder with those facts is that they're waiting for the est $300 mil that they'll have access to after the the convention per currently tide to the primary funding.

   Will it be like seeing a tsunami of reality flood the airwaves? Will the public not sympathize more with dying gasps from the drowning new con dic'tatorship leaning MSM than a cold washing?

   I look forward to witnessing it.

   Posted by hsuBfools at 08/25/2008 @ 10:54pm

2. er, not tide, tied

   Posted by hsuBfools at 08/25/2008 @ 10:59pm

3. The wealth is almost all Cindy's--but she ain't an industrious success story. She inherited a beer distributorship from her father, for which she does little, if any, actual work: "She crisscrosses the country on the company jet, keeps an accountant on the company payroll to mind her personal finances, drives a company Lexus with 'MS BUD' plates and says she oversees the company's "strategic planning and corporate vision." Yet she almost never shows up in the office, is deemed an absentee owner by Anheuser-Busch and has left scarcely a mark on the company, present and former executives say."

   posted by Eric Alterman on 08/25/2008 @ 10:30pm

   Well, now I know why bud tastes like crap.

   Posted by Benchrest at 08/25/2008 @ 11:00pm

4. Posted by frankgrits at 08/25/2008 @ 11:34pm

   I have no doubt she has accomplished much, and much good as well.

   That still doesn't change the fact that bud tastes like crap.

   Posted by Benchrest at 08/25/2008 @ 11:39pm

5. "Maddening blindness towards the extremism and/or crass political expediency of Senator John McCain:"

   please...

   I am shocked! shocked I tell you that there is politics in DC...who would have thunk it?

   Posted by pyeatte at 08/25/2008 @ 11:41pm

6. Posted by RedRiver_. at 08/25/2008 @ 11:59pm

   OK Rio, I'll take the bait.

   Why would McCain pick Hillary?

   Posted by Benchrest at 08/26/2008 @ 12:03am

7. TV network owners -- GE, Westinghouse, Disney, Murdoch -- pay a small handful of performers huge salaries to act as "newscasters" & do the Owners' bidding.

   There is no other way these performers could earn anything remotely like that kind of money. They will say anything to keep their rewarding perches.

   Bye-bye, republic.

   Posted by sloper at 08/26/2008 @ 12:16am

8. Posted by RedRiver_. at 08/26/2008 @ 12:12am

   Thanks RIO.

   Your gonna give me frickin nightmares saying stuff like that.

   Posted by Benchrest at 08/26/2008 @ 12:16am

9. Posted by RedRiver_. at 08/26/2008 @ 12:30am

   Colorado is one of the most hunter friendly states there are. You can still buy tags over the counter and it is a huge tourism industry for them.

   They treat hunters like gold. I seriously doubt the local authorities are involved.

   Fed authorities on the other hand might not understand such a culture, but would have been briefed on current situations on the ground.

   What is the source of that info.?

   Posted by Benchrest at 08/26/2008 @ 12:42am

10. Posted by RedRiver_. at 08/26/2008 @ 12:56am

    Thanks for taking the bait.

    The reason I know the story is false is because it is ARCHERY season in Colorado.

    NO centerfire or blackpowder hunting allowed under ANY circumstances during that time.

    The reason? You have hunters sneaking around in full camo trying to get within 50 yards of an elk or muledeer to slip a broadhead between their ribs. These are REAL hunters, not fat slobs from behind a desk.

    How do I know? I'm one of them.

    People hunting with rifles at this time are known as poachers, and are duly arrested.

    Posted by Benchrest at 08/26/2008 @ 01:05am

11. Tax cuts? McCain simply realized that they worked....when facts change, don't you? Posted by 2HAPPY at 08/25/2008 @ 10:45pm

    Happy, Are you for real? Please tell me how our economy is in great shape from W's tax cuts? The wealthy are getting wealthier indeed, but the majority of the country is getting poorer and the savings rate is non-existent.

    We now have a record defecit due to two wars while cutting taxes. I figured a guy who made money by investing would at least be able to add, but evidently you can't even do that.

    To cut to the quick, this is what McIdiot stands for. Tax cuts for the wealthy. More military spending. Appointing conservative bible thumping idiots to the supreme court. Deregulation of any government oversight of the private sector including: the banking industry, private pharaceutical companies, energy companies and their greenhouse gas emissions, international corporations exploiting overseas workers that also hide their profits in overseas banks while conducting business in the United States and also enjoying the protections of the trade routes via the United States Navy at tax payer expense.

    I could give a rip of McCain is old, Obama is black, or if both of them were Muslim, but what I do give a rip about is what they'll do in office as president. Watching McCain on the campaign trail has shown that he's not the sharpest knife in the drawer and that he's turned from being a middle of the road republican to a certifiable right wing wacko. He's George W Bush in 20 years. If the people of this nation want more of W's policies for the next 4 years, then by all means, vote for McIdiot and watch the U.S. sink like the Bismark.

    Posted by Wolfgang1 at 08/26/2008 @ 07:45am

12. Maybe RIO/RED can explain why a majority of Hillary voters (not just a few die-hard cultists)...

    are going to want John McCain picking the next 2-3 US Supreme Court justices and try to overturn Roe v. Wade?!??!??

    Posted by Maskdelta at 08/26/2008 @ 08:48am

13. Oops - enough on Cindi. How about those pundits? Tom Brokaw, Republican from Montana, showed his leaning with comments and a dressing down of Chris Mathews and Keith Olbermann for their journalistic efforts. Yet, Brokaw commented that what was obviously a tremendous speech by Michelle Obama was really essentially window dressing. He reluctantly said that she did almost hit one out of the park. Mathews and Olbermann and the assembled panel (Robinson, Maddow, Buchanan) saw a different scene. They were profuse in their praise for Michelle Obama. They defined Barack in new terms as the family man, the lover, the dreamer. Buchanan, of course, threw in right-ring comments but was drowned out by, especially, Maddow (a brilliant, scholarly addition to MSNBC). Not all the pundits got it wrong. Some saw the power of the speech. Many, however, see McCain as a saving grace, fit for power. Maddow, courageously, took on his use of the POW-line as archaic, ineffective, redundit, and irrelevant as an answer to most questions. He cannot hide behind that one reason for everything. I admire his strength under captivity. I question whether or not he has PTSD (untreated). I can't stand that every question is qualified by the POW statement. Again, not all the pundits got it wrong. Many did though. We can listen to what we like, boycott the others, and boycott (with letters to the advertisers) those that support them.

    Posted by raiffer at 08/26/2008 @ 09:31am

14. When can we start hoping for change with the old guard of network news people. It has been proven that Couric can not reach or attrack the young people to her audience, and she thumps for McCain. Brokaw is well pass the age of sharp-mindedness that would allow him to be an impartial and objective commentator. The ABC network has lost credibility after that fiasco Democratic debate they held. At least the public has a greater part of NBC to broadcast the essentials, and we can only hope McCain's subterfuge will be uncovered by the likes of Chris Matthews, and Keith O.. But in the meantime, can we shut down FOX News, and those broadcasters and commentators who are now in the throes of dementia? BTW: Is it me or does FOX News remind you of what the communist did to divide America during the 78 years of the Cold War? - - read your history and compare what FOX's propaganda sounds like to what the communists broadcasted in 1962. And their attractive commentators, just like what the Chinese broadcasters look like in their news broadcasts of today. I've seen photos of Tokyo Rose - she was always dolled-up!

    Posted by TvMcGuirk at 08/26/2008 @ 09:31am

15. Dear Eric,

    Me doth thinks you protest too much...

    Pasted in is copy of an old email sent to the Nation trying to tell you what I thought of your so called "punditry". It still plays rather well to your continued "flip flopping" and hidden agenda.

    "...how does one email Mr Alterman to offer him the opportunity to get in touch with reality and a pin to deflate his megalomaniacal sense of self importance about thinking that he is doing anything at all constructive to "correct" right wing misinformation when his collusion with the attack on Nader aids the greatest coup the right wing could ever have hoped for:

    to succeed in seeing a pack of liberals turned into a slavering pack of judases braying for the blood of the one american presidential candidate that actually had the stones and will to dismantle their agenda. what a sweet victory that must have been thanks to people like you who fell hook line and sinker for the jingoistic gibber lobbed against Nader and the whole progressive dog and pony show that folded its tent and went off the cliff like a fat lot of lemmings.

    where is that email address which will deliver my message to Mr Alterman...and challenge him to examine his own pathological behavior. if i didnt know better--the fact being the CIA is too stupid to use facile little bright sparks they cherry pick off campuses to work all sides--i would say Mr Alterman has a stick of very dubious origin up his backside that is "guiding" him.

    YOU, Mr Aleterman, and the rest of the pack of sniveling little weasles are truly the ones who are responsible for 4 more years of Bush.

    You guys would be out of business if a man like Nader ever got elected. You couldnt whine and thump your chests anymore. and pretend to be something you are absolutely NOT."

    Posted by ac at 08/26/2008 @ 09:34am

16. read your history and compare what FOX's propaganda sounds like to what the communists broadcasted in 1962. And their attractive commentators, just like what the Chinese broadcasters look like in their news broadcasts of today. I've seen photos of Tokyo Rose - she was always dolled-up!

    Posted by TvMcGuirk at 08/26/2008 @ 09:31am

    Good post.

    Posted by Wolfgang1 at 08/26/2008 @ 09:46am

17. "I have no doubt she has accomplished much, and much good as well. That still doesn't change the fact that bud tastes like crap."

    Well said, sir. I believe the Germans reference it to like making love in a canoe: fucking close to water.

    On the other hand, with this quote: "So why are the Muslims living in America forming a Demoncrat caucus and holding a rally for Obamanation since he isn't a Muslim? Inquiring minds want to know! So much for the "melting pot" theory of the last century about America!" maybe the author should quit drinking so much. But I am glad this is symptomatic of what passes for an inquiring mind.

    Posted by onthehelm at 08/26/2008 @ 09:55am

18. Living in the USA is like watching a slow motion train wreck up close. 85% say we're headed in the wrong direction, yet only about 50% can figure out who's been driving lately.

    Reading what Republicans post on the internets is a good enough simulation that one never has to visit an insane asylum. I hear that the mentally ill also fear "Demoncrats"... one wonders if the people who post such rants here get these fears from Limbaugh or from the voices in their heads. Or perhaps the voices in their heads *are* Limbaugh...

    Posted by masussman at 08/26/2008 @ 10:15am

19. Posted by onthehelm at 08/26/2008 @ 09:55am

    You just can't get through to some people. They think they know too much.

    Posted by Benchrest at 08/26/2008 @ 10:15am

20. Posted by onthehelm at 08/26/2008 @ 09:55am

    RIO/RED our resident knee-jerker. No thinking required is his motto.

    For instance, he failed to note the line that pre-9/11, many Muslims in the US....leaned Republican.

    Posted by Maskdelta at 08/26/2008 @ 10:17am

21. Sorry, but I also see quite a lovefest for Obama on MSNBC. I know it's only one outlet, but it's pretty sickening, I must say. If that's our way of combating the McCain benchwarmers, then we need a new strategy, because it's nauseating.

    Posted by DJGoody at 08/26/2008 @ 11:26am

22. Posted by 2HAPPY at 08/26/2008 @ 12:09pm

    And if McCain loses, you'll blame it on the "liberal Media"

    (totally contradicting the above statement that it "helps McCain").

    Posted by Maskdelta at 08/26/2008 @ 12:17pm

23. are going to want John McCain picking the next 2-3 US Supreme Court justices and try to overturn Roe v. Wade?!??!??

    Posted by Maskdelta at 08/26/2008 @ 08:48am

    That's what kills me off. How can people say they support or supported Hillary and then turn around and vote for McCain?! Obama's platform is waaaay closer to Hillary's than McIdiots.

    I can't imagine a feminist considering voting for McCain. I can't imagine someone who works for a living voting for McCain either, but here we go again with people slitting their own throats because they buy into a bunch of testosterone driven speeches by a guy who's body doesn't produce testosterone any more.

    Posted by Wolfgang1 at 08/26/2008 @ 12:24pm

24. The Clintons are "true blue" and expected to raise the roof. I am with Bill Mayer who stated he couldn't believe 47% of the public or people would vote for McIdiot. Like playing a song on the piano with 47% of the keys that need tuning! It is the same people that voted for Bush I am sure! I was or am a supporter of Hilliary and I am not going to cut my throat and vote for an Mcidiot! I am thankful for Biden who joined the ticket because of his experience which is why I was for Clinton in the first place. I am however concerned because Biden looked like he had some fear on his face. did anyone else see it?

    Posted by psahome at 08/26/2008 @ 1:08pm

25. You know the Demo tide......based on false "sky is falling everywhere" reporting that leads so many to think maybe the sky is falling.....that's MSM!! Posted by 2HAPPY at 08/26/2008 @ 12:54pm

    Happy, The sky pretty much has fallen. I don't know if you've noticed or not, but gasoline prices have skyrocketed under W's helm. Do you think this was just some mere coincidence? Pull your head out man. You may profit from these republican wet dreams of letting private business entities control the White House, congress and supreme court, but don't even try to pretend that your profits are others' misery.

    Posted by psahome at 08/26/2008 @ 1:08pm

    I actually voted for Hillary in the primary but lost a lot of respect for her the way she conducted herself during the debates. After one of the debates I wished I could have taken my vote back and placed it for Obama. Obama kept trying to talk about the issues but all Hillary wanted to do was sling the mud. That's what kills me about the supposed people who voted for feeling like she was mistreated by Obama?! How does the saying go, if you can't stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen.

    I still think Hillary and Bill will do what is right for the American people and put this petty personal matter between them and Obama behind them and keep McIdiot out of the White House.

    Posted by Wolfgang1 at 08/26/2008 @ 1:20pm

26. Posted by Wolfgang1 at 08/26/2008 @ 1:20pm

    Here, here! In some ways I got the impression she thought she was going to skate to whitehouse. Respect in check - She needs to give Obama the credit he deserves for his effort and determination at least....I didn't see what Kennedy saw at first (when he endorsed him first) but clearly see it now. I don't follow blindly, I thought.....but clearly should of asked myself "what does Kennedy see" that the rest of the clinton supporters ( I still love the Clintons) don't see.

    Posted by psahome at 08/26/2008 @ 1:36pm

27. 2happy said:

    <blockquote>The degree of "deception and distortion" we have all witnessed on the Magic side, over a period so short as to be unscriptable, so overwhelms whatever (minor) repositioning by McCain, of course attention rightfully have been paid where the true AUDACITY lives!</blockquote>

    Minor repositioning?

    He was against toture, now he's for it. That's not a minor reposition. It is a complete reversal. McCain reversed himself 180 degrees on many issues, sometimes more than once. He's a panderer of the highest degree!

    Go to these two webistes and reaad more about McCain's flip-flops: http://www.wegoted.com/ http://www.tomchambless.com/

    Posted by Batbird at 08/26/2008 @ 1:37pm

28. McCain's "extremism"??? What is this nut smoking? Obama supports withholding medical care from newborn babies who have survived abortions. He spent 20 years in the "God-damn America" church. He is friends with a guy who bombed government buildings and, at least, a conspirator in a murder. He wants to run out on a war that's already all but won. He wants to invade an ally that has nuclear weapons. And, McCain is "extreme"??????

    Posted by Dimslie at 08/26/2008 @ 1:39pm

29. Hey 2happy...

    Exactly how have the tax cuts worked? Last I checked most economists on both sides agree the economy is in critical shape. I'd appreciate any supporting articles or documentation that you might be able to point me to.

    If by 'work' you mean that the gap between the wealthiest 1% and the rest of us has widened, that the deficit is larger than predicted (yes economist predicted the tax cuts would lead to multi-trillion $ deficits), the gov't bailing out banks, etc... then I guess I understand.

    I'm more interested in how John McCain goes from not just being against the Bush tax cuts but stating that they were immoral to now pushing for making them permanent and expanding them. Even if you can prove your case that they 'worked' that would not seem to be grounds to change one's morals.

    Especially a straight talkin principled maverick like John McCain.

    Posted by jarhead59 at 08/26/2008 @ 1:44pm

30. Posted by Wolfgang1 at 08/26/2008 @ 12:24pm

    A few cultists...led by fellow nuts or some GOP operatives. Sum total of "PUMA".

    Polls already show Obama has a 53-37% lead on McCain among women.

    BUT, if Obama loses, happy to let FRANK and PUMA take credit for it...and make sure their dream of '12 never happens!

    Posted by Maskdelta at 08/26/2008 @ 1:46pm

31. Watching McCain on the campaign trail has shown that he's not the sharpest knife in the drawer and that he's turned from being a middle of the road republican to a certifiable right wing wacko. He's George W Bush in 20 years. If the people of this nation want more of W's policies for the next 4 years, then by all means, vote for McIdiot and watch the U.S. sink like the Bismark.

    Posted by Wolfgang1 at 08/26/2008 @ 07:45am

    You Rock, Wolfgang! The global corporate strategy since 1980 (Regan - failed actor and certified dummy), has been to find and elect such intellectually limited slugs and make them into "leaders" who do what they are told. No thinking, rational, real leader could be led by the nose the way these drudges have been. The only problem they had with Regan was keeping him from trying to express his own views... whenever he diverged from the script, he exposed his stupidity. Bushie is only the latest in the line of ideologs who can't think for themselves. And now comes McSame. Yes, they think Obama is an elitist...he thinks, he speaks, he understands. All that can be said of this Republican crew is they believe. That goes for Happy2 as well.

    Posted by montanadon at 08/26/2008 @ 1:48pm

32. Posted by 2HAPPY at 08/26/2008 @ 12:54pm

    HAPP, you're merely betting every number on the table.

    Obama wins....you blame the "liberal Media going easy on him!"

    McCain wins...you say "The liberal Media fawned over Obama and the people rejected them!"

    BTW, remember the Bush/Quayle bumper sticker from 1992..."Confound the Media, Vote Bush!"

    Did nothing and went nowhere.

    Posted by Maskdelta at 08/26/2008 @ 1:52pm

33. Dear "Batbird":

    Please cite when McCain has endorsed torture. Are you actively lying or just repeating a lie? I mention this because I may not support McCain because he does not support torture of terrorists. I have no problem whatsoever with pulling out the fingernails or gouging out the eyes of terrorists who have entered into a conspiracy to kill and maim innocent civilians and who, once captured, refuse to provide the information to stop the attrocities. To elevate such vile filth as these people to the status of legitimate combatants is the reasoning of a person who is either stupid or not paying attention.

    Posted by Dimslie at 08/26/2008 @ 1:52pm

34. Posted by Batbird at 08/26/2008 >> He was against toture, now he's for it. That's not a minor reposition. It is a complete reversal.

    I don't think he knows his name 50% of the time and just down right scares me! Let alone his complete reversals! The fact he is being nominated-OMG. He sent his wife over to Georgia to what.....check on the casualities???????? What is she going to do- call him and say Yep-there is casualities?? That is almost as dumb as our own president asking Russia to stop having a parliament hearing, until are own VP gets there to determine what .....................? Next Week????????? Enough is Enough. If the republicans know what is good for them they would not nominate McIdiot, nominate a republican senator under the age of 50 (is there any?) and do something about the ....who is in office now doing more damage.

    Posted by psahome at 08/26/2008 @ 1:52pm

35. Dimslie,

    Kudos. I thought I was listening to Sean Hannity for a second.

    My suggestion would be to research everyone of the points that you stated in such eloquent fashion from a source other than AM Conservative Talk Radio or Fox News and make a truly informed judgement.

    Your points are superficial, partisan and divisive and will not stand up to objective research. Though they were entertaining.

    I guess extremism is a lot like beauty. It's in the eye of the beholder.

    Posted by jarhead59 at 08/26/2008 @ 2:01pm

36. but don't even try to pretend that your profits are others' misery.

    correction: but don't even try to pretend that your profits aren't others' misery.

    Posted by Wolfgang1 at 08/26/2008 @ 2:03pm

37. "TV network owners -- GE, Westinghouse, Disney, Murdoch -- pay a small handful of performers huge salaries to act as "newscasters" & do the Owners' bidding. There is no other way these performers could earn anything remotely like that kind of money. They will say anything to keep their rewarding perches. Bye-bye, republic." Posted by sloper at 08/26/2008 @ 12:16am

    Sloper nailed it. For anybody to cry 'liberal media' is so Nixonian. And the term main stream media is meaningless. It is Corporate Media pressed through a financial filter.

    If you happen to be one of these infotainers on the tube that make an excess of $5m a year why would you challenge McCain whose continuation of the tax cuts for the top 1% and your corporate bosses will personally benefit you in the millions.

    I understand when millionaires stick up for billionaires. I don't understand when the people who live amongst the declining wage earners take such a hard line in defending the people that are responsible for the mess we're in.

    What happened to the concept of accountability?

    Posted by jarhead59 at 08/26/2008 @ 2:17pm

38. "Please cite when McCain has endorsed torture. Are you actively lying or just repeating a lie?"

    Posted by Dimslie at 08/26/2008 @ 1:52pm |

    Dimslie, You obviously have a computer you should do a little research before you accuse somebody of lying. It's fairly well documented that McCain has changed his position on torture. In fact, if you use the Bush definition of torture or advanced interrogation or whatever they call it, John McCain was not technically tortured when he was a POW.

    Think about what you're saying with regards to pulling out finger nails and eye gouging. We're talking about suspects that are rounded up. That could be my brother or your brother that fit a profile. If the U.S. does not adhere to a high standard in providing due process to suspects, our soldiers in the future will pay for this as we will have set the example and will have no moral ground to denounce such activities. Very similar to our lack of moral ground when a country invades another country preemptively without provocation. I'm sure this sounds familiar.

    The U.S. Constitution as tattered as it may be is still the foundation for our government and we should not be so dismissive when it comes to upholding it because we're threatened. After all it was written during a time of great international crisis and distress. These principles should not be taken lightly.

    Posted by jarhead59 at 08/26/2008 @ 3:10pm

39. Sorry, but I also see quite a lovefest for Obama on MSNBC. I know it's only one outlet, but it's pretty sickening, I must say. If that's our way of combating the McCain benchwarmers, then we need a new strategy, because it's nauseating. Posted by DJGoody at 08/26/2008 @ 11:26am

    I watch Countdown with Keith Olberman, Hardball with Chris Matthews and Morning Joe with Joe Scarborough on a semi-regular basis. Olberman is clearly anti-GOP and sometimes loses his perspective and journalistic sense, but Matthews maintains his man-crush on McCain and is forever nitpicking Obama's "regular guyness" and his campaign's focus. Scarborough seems to be out-and-out hostile to Obama while maintaining a much softer critique of McCain. He out and out covered for McCain and the GOP during a revealing and brutal argument he had this morning with David Schuster over Prime Minister's al-Maliki's demand that all foregin troops leave Iraq by 2011. Scarborough was petulant towards al-Maliki and the Iraqis, disingenuous about McCain, Bush and other opponents of withdrawal timetables, and downright bullying, nasty and personal in his attacks on Schuster. Quite the performance!

    Now, if you can tell me that David Greogory and Dan Abrams are pro-Obama and anti-McCain on their prime time shows, then I'll take this charge of MSNBC is in the tank for Obama a bit more seriously. Given that Gregory is a card-carrying member of the Washington media elite, a body that generally worships the ground McCain walks on, I'd be surprised if his show noticeably tilted towards Obama. Abrams' show is so lame, its format and host seeming to follow the lead of the McLaughlin Group to their logical, most inane conclusion, that I wonder if it has any effect on the body politic whatsoever.

    Posted by cka2nd at 08/26/2008 @ 3:31pm

40. You know the Demo tide......based on false "sky is falling everywhere" reporting that leads so many to think maybe the sky is falling.....that's MSM!!

    Posted by 2HAPPY at 08/26/2008 @ 12:54pm

    2HAPPY, for several years I had to watch network business "correspondents," MSM pundits of the center and right, and reporters who took pride in describing themselves as looking at things straight "down the middle" (Hello to Gwen Ifill and the folks on PBS' Washington Week) pooh pooh poll after poll that showed that most Americans were worried about the economy and the direction of the country. The country isn't in a recession, inflation is low (after the Bushies and Wall Street suceeded in changing how the government defined it and the news media reported it), unemployment was (relatively) low, job growth continued (although at historically low levels for an economy supposedly in a "recovery") and, oh yeah, housing prices were high and gas prices low. Never have I been so angry at the Washinton press establishment for being so pathetically out of touch with the working and middle classes.

    Contrary to the narrative that conservative bloggers and pundits have tried to spin, it wasn't the mainstream media that planted the idea in the public's collective head that things were going downhill. The opposite process actually took place, and once gas prices exploded, food prices started rising and the housing bubble burst, the press was dragged kicking and screaming into acknowledging that there was some reality underpinning the public's oft expressed concerns about jobs, trade, regulation and both public and private finance.

    Posted by cka2nd at 08/26/2008 @ 4:00pm

41. By the way, 2HAPPY, we've seen a similar process involving the people and government of Iraq as the one I outlined for the U.S. public and press on the economy.

    Years of polls showed that most Iraqis wanted the U.S. and its "coalition" troops out of their country within a year or so, and blamed their presence as the biggest factor contributing to the instability, violence and/or Civil War plaguing them. Finally, the U.S.-sponsored government came around to the point of view of its people, probably because of the changing political realities in both countries.

    Ain't public opinion grand, at least some of the time?

    Posted by cka2nd at 08/26/2008 @ 4:08pm

42. All that can be said of this Republican crew is they believe. That goes for Happy2 as well.

    Posted by montanadon at 08/26/2008 @ 1:48pm

    Well put MT Don. I grew up in Great Falls. Are you from MT too?

    Posted by Wolfgang1 at 08/26/2008 @ 4:36pm

43. What happened to the concept of accountability?

    Posted by jarhead59 at 08/26/2008 @ 2:17pm

    Accountability? In the corporate world, accountability is the essence of the saying that shit rolls down hill. In the last eight years, the Bush administration has stone walled, used executive privelege, and pardoned those who were caught with their hands in the cookie jar. Accountability for these people only exists if something appears to be going right. If things are going bad, we get the Wizard of Oz treatment. Pay no attention to the man behind that curtain!!

    Funny thing about all this, if there is a funny thing, is that most of these neocon bloggers rambling on about how grand W, Cheney, McIdiot and crew are won't be profitting from the venture. They will be paying for it with the rest of us as will the children, grandchildren, great grandchildren and so on.

    But, as long as they can feel manly about sending others off to war to kill people in other countries in the name of God and country, they will be happy in continuing to live in a delusionary world where the definition of being manly is not what your actions are, but rather the actions of others you send to do your bidding for you. These guys are armchair cowards. I don't think most of them even have the courage to get up in the middle of the night to get a drink of water...a terrorist might be out in the hallway!!! lol

    Posted by Wolfgang1 at 08/26/2008 @ 4:49pm

44. The Nation is at the brink of disaster as a result of Bush's Presidency? Good God, man, do you have any perspective? Rather, do you have any brains?

    Posted by stefaneau at 08/26/2008 @ 5:25pm

45. Good God, man, do you have any perspective? Rather, do you have any brains?

    Posted by stefaneau at 08/26/2008 @ 5:25pm

    Is this directed at Happy, JM or both?

    Posted by Wolfgang1 at 08/26/2008 @ 5:35pm

46. I am so discouraged by a huge number of the people of this country. Cynical selfishness claims those who aren't plain stupid.

    Cue Carlin:

    "Now, there's one thing you might have noticed I don't complain about: politicians. Everybody complains about politicians. Everybody says they suck. Well, where do people think these politicians come from? They don't fall out of the sky. They don't pass through a membrane from another reality. They come from American parents and American families, American homes, American schools, American churches, American businesses and American universities, and they are elected by American citizens. This is the best we can do folks. This is what we have to offer. It's what our system produces: Garbage in, garbage out. If you have selfish, ignorant citizens, you're going to get selfish, ignorant leaders. Term limits ain't going to do any good; you're just going to end up with a brand new bunch of selfish, ignorant Americans. So, maybe, maybe, maybe, it's not the politicians who suck. Maybe something else sucks around here… like, the public. Yeah, the public sucks. There's a nice campaign slogan for somebody: 'The Public Sucks. Fuck Hope.'"

    Posted by jlister at 08/26/2008 @ 6:17pm

47. It's funny how Alterman writes this column about reporters not reporting the truth when he himself is selective about how he reports things. In the final two substantial paragraphs in his column, he uses information from a New York Times article ("For McCains, a Public Path but Private Wealth", August 22, 2008) to paint an unflattering picture of Cindy McCain and her role in her beer distributorship. In the first paragraph he uses the Times info to imply that Cindy McCain is an absentee owner who doesn't work ... giving the impression that she's some sort of a playgirl living off of her inheritance. Then in the next paragraph he attempts to smear her by writing that her company (the one to which she does not go to work) opposes raising taxes on their product. So in one paragraph, she has nothing to do with the business and in the next he is damning her with her business. It is such intellectual dishonesty that causes people to feel they can not believe what people write or say. Oh and if anyone who reads Alterman's column actually go to the Times story, they will find this paragraph in between the two he selectively used which may explain why Cindy McCain doesn't go to the office .... "Mrs. McCain has spent far more time as a volunteer on behalf of needy children. She is a board member of CARE and Operation Smile, which provides cleft-palate surgery for impoverished children; when she visited Mother Teresa's orphanage in Bangladesh 17 years ago, she brought a baby girl back for the surgery and then adopted her." Hopefully Alterman will look at himself closer when he writes about selective punditry.

    Posted by RayinLA at 08/26/2008 @ 6:54pm

48. "I have no doubt she has accomplished much, and much good as well. That still doesn't change the fact that bud tastes like crap."

    Well said, sir. I believe the Germans reference it to like making love in a canoe: fucking close to water.

    Posted by onthehelm at 08/26/2008 --- They call it Spülwasser, which almost translates as dishwater. But, hey, what do the Germans know about beer?

    Posted by FLaim at 08/26/2008 @ 8:02pm

49. what's wrong with being the benefactor of hard work and realizing the american dream. Cindy McCain shouldn't be scolded for having a successful family. This is far less disturbing than a man who befriends a domestic terrorists. John McCain fought and risked his life so you can live free and enjoy all america has to offer

    Posted by kdunn at 08/26/2008 @ 8:42pm

50. Well, that explains the price of beer at the gas station. I can get a 24 oz can of beer for a buck. A 20 oz. soda is 1.39, 16 oz. milk is 1.49, OJ is 1.59. Even water costs more than beer. Thanks Cindy! Sorry about driving through your flower garden and pulling up to the side door to order a double cheeseburger.

    Posted by ajweishar at 08/26/2008 @ 9:10pm

51. John McCain fought and risked his life so you can live free and enjoy all america has to offer

    Posted by kdunn at 08/26/2008 @ 8:42pm

    You are full of it. Please explain to me how John McCain fighting in Vietnam was for my freedom?! Did Vietnam come here an attack us? No. Where any Americans citizens (besides the ones drafted and sent over to fight) at any risk of being killed by the Vietnamese governement? No.

    The Vietnam war had nothing to do with fighting for Americans freedom nor was the Korean conflict, nor has the Iraq war been about protecting Americans or American's freedom. This is complete bullshit.

    I feel for the folks fighting in the stupid pointless wars for profit, but don't tell me the war is for the benefit of Americans. All these wars of killed our brothers, sisters, sons and daughters so a few wealthy folks could profit handsomely from these wars. The defense contractors and the pentagon treat our soldiers as nothing more than replaceable equipment and nothing more. Sure, they wave the flag around, play the national anthem, talk about God and all, but non of these wars have been for our freedom.

    Posted by Wolfgang1 at 08/27/2008 @ 07:08am

52. she brought a baby girl back for the surgery and then adopted her."

    Posted by RayinLA at 08/26/2008 @ 6:54pm

    I know people with a lot less means than Cindy McCain who have adopted children from other countries. I don't see people running around talking about how great these folks are for trying to make the world a better place.

    With the resources the McCains have, they could run a damned orphanage for children and still have plenty of money left over. The point here is that John McCain is married into a lot of money and pretty much has a vested interest, don't you think, in tax cuts for the wealthy since he and his wife fit quite nicely into that category?!

    While McCain pushes tax cuts for himself, he doesn't mind bankrupting his country to do it nor does he seem to care about the veterans who come back from these wars he's so hot for. He's voted against any bills that would increase funding for veterans.

    McCain may be a perfectly nice guy as a person, but as a politican, he's a self serving asshole looking out for number one.

    Posted by Wolfgang1 at 08/27/2008 @ 07:18am

53. Hey, and have to McCheat about Mother Teresa telling them to adopt to make the story and them look a lot more important. Now that's McSad.

    Posted by hsuBfools at 08/27/2008 @ 09:14am

54. McCain Releases 2006 & 2007 Tax Returns, But Not His Wife's....

    McCain, 2006 & 2007

    AGI=$338,809, Charitable Gifts=$96,758 (28.6%)

    AGI=$386,527, Charitable Gifts=$105,467 (27.3%)

    Posted by 2HAPPY at 08/25/2008 @ 11:25pm

    Obviously McPOWhowmanyMANSIONS can't really afford any of the mansions he's NOT paying rent on...

    Now I'm starting to wonder if McPOWhowmanyMANSIONS really ever got tortured since he McCaved and was sooooo ok with hsuB's illegal/unconstitutional signing statement saying hsuB can do it if when he feels like it.

    All McPOWhowmanyMANSIONS injuries could easily have been explained as a result from yet another expensive plane he wrecked.

    And one can write off just sooo many 'senior moments'....

    Sorry but McPOWhowmanyMANSIONS credibility is worth about as much as a hsuB/cHeney admin now.

    Posted by hsuBfools at 08/27/2008 @ 09:30am

55. In the first paragraph he uses the Times info to imply that Cindy McCain is an absentee owner who doesn't work ... giving the impression that she's some sort of a playgirl living off of her inheritance. Then in the next paragraph he attempts to smear her by writing that her company (the one to which she does not go to work) opposes raising taxes on their product. So in one paragraph, she has nothing to do with the business and in the next he is damning her with her business.

    Posted by RayinLA at 08/26/2008 @ 6:54pm

    The above is either disingenuous, naive or just plain dishonest. RayinLA, absentee owners set the fundamental policies of their companies, whether it comes to lobbying or labor practices. They don't have to be day-to-day managers to get the company to do what they want when it comes to protecting their investment. The billionaire Waltons don't work 40-60 hour weeks running Wal-Mart, but they sure as hell are responsible for its business practices.

    Posted by cka2nd at 08/27/2008 @ 10:16am

56. And the comparison begins:

    "At first glance, these slabs of non-fiction -- Dreams From My Father by Obama, and Faith of My Fathers by McCain -- are strikingly similar. They both tell the autobiographical story of an insecure young man who flails around for an identity, and finds it by chasing the ghost of his absent father to a dangerous place far beyond the United States. Yet Obama ended up writing a complex story of colonised people -- while McCain wrote a simple celebration of the coloniser."

    ***

    "While Obama's father and grandfather were being whipped and detained without charge, McCain was being taught to revere the people doing it. He writes of his father: "He was a great admirer of the British Empire, crediting it with keeping 'a relative measure of peace' in the world for 'someplace in the neighbourhood of two hundred years.'" This is a view his son holds to this day -- as we can see from the fact that his foreign policy adviser, Niall Ferguson, calls for the U.S. to pick up where Britain left off. He describes his own childhood in the wreckage of Obama's Snr's Kenya as "a magical time" where "scarcely anything had changed since the days of White Mischief"."

    ***

    "When he returned, his father told him the only problem with the war is it wasn't fought hard enough: Nixon and Kissinger should have bombed more civilians, with less restraint. (They killed 3 million.) His son still agrees: he is angry at the "utterly illogical restraints on the use of American power". McCain says of his predecessors: "I still aspire to live my life according to the terms of their approval." It's true. His father's reaction to failure in Vietnam was to urge bombing of Cambodia; his reaction to failure in Iraq is to sing "Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran.""

    http://tinyurl.com/6mc4dl

    Posted by hsuBfools at 08/27/2008 @ 11:25am

57. Posted by hsuBfools at 08/27/2008 @ 11:25am

    Yep, there's a guy we want at the levers!!! Not.

    Posted by Wolfgang1 at 08/27/2008 @ 11:52am

58. RE: ...

    If Big Mac picks Joe Lieberman or a woman as running mate, that will be a lot more excitement and diversity than Biden - Obama ticket.

    Posted by HelenDAO at 08/27/2008 @ 11:20pm