I'm not too much into politics and have a general disdain for all politicians (believe they're all corrupt to some extent and probably all going to hell), but I'm pretty sure McCain is not a Bush lackey. In the Iraq war with all the issues of imperial/presidential powers and torture and spying on US citizens it was: Bush, Cheney, John Yoo, and David Addington and Alberto Gonzales vs. John Ashcroft, Jack Goldsmith, Colin Powell, Robert Mueller, and John McCain. If anyone was a lackey, it was John Yoo who legally justified everything Cheney and Bush were doing to secretly increase their powers. Gonzales was a lackey and a fall guy. McCain was tortured for 5 years and headed the anti-torture legislation. The bill passed and Bush was forced to sign it (of course then the admin came up with a memo stating that they didn't have to follow it).
You and bigtexxx have done a great job in restating my point in post #3 of this thread. A liberal hack wrote that piece on McCain. A conservative hack somewhere is writing something equally as worthless about Obama. This is just shocking.
I agree that this piece definitely has a left leaning slant to it. You have to take all of these "journalists" with at grain of salt. Just seemed like ole' texxx was insinuating that these articles only come from one side.
further proof all politicians will do whatever to get elected, all this "straight talk, honesty" stuff is just a load of crap. I'd rather vote for someone who can get the job done.
i think in private quarters mccain is a straight shooter and I do think he could do a good job. It's just when he plays "politician" he looks uncomfortable
I've met McCain several times and talked with him in a casual way several times. I like the guy. I think he'll get the nomination in spite of the fact that he can't be counted on to do the right thing by the current folks running the GOP... which is obviously a good thing. Still, they'll get behind him when it's a done deal and he'll accept their help in the general campaign. In essence, he'll become the de facto establishment candidate, which is good for Dems because it means the Republicans will push off serious party reform for another cycle. Huckabee, on the other hand, would necessitate an immediate party breakdown and require the GOP to rebuild itself by 2012. So, as a Dem, I like McCain as the nominee. As an American, I like Huckabee because the sooner the GOP starts over the more likely the jerks who got us into this mess end up on the outside for an extended period.
in summer, people get horny in election years, people write character assassination pieces tis the season!
On his release, he used second his wife's fortune to run to as a Republican senator. He was a standard-issue Reaganite corporate Republican n until the Keating Five corruption scandal consumed him. In 1987, it was revealed that McCain, along with four other senators, had taken huge campaign donations from a fraudster called Charles Keating. In return they pressured government regulators not to look too hard into Keating's affairs, allowing him to commit even more fraud. McCain later admitted: "I did it for no other reason than I valued [Keating's] support." McCain took the only course that could possibly preserve his reputation: He turned the scandal into a debate about the political system, rather than his own personal corruption. He said it showed how "we need to drive the special interests out of Washington," and became a high-profile campaigner for campaign finance reform. But privately, his behavior hasn't changed much. For example, in 2000 he lobbied federal regulators hard on behalf of a major campaign contributor, Paxson Communications, in an act the regulators spluttered was "highly unusual." He has never won an election without outspending his opponent. But McCain has distinguished himself most as an über-hawk on foreign policy. To give a brief smorgasbord of his views: at a recent rally, he sang "Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran," to the tune of the Beach Boys' "Barbara Ann." He says North Korea should be threatened with "extinction." McCain has mostly opposed using U.S. power for humanitarian goals, jeering at proposals to intervene in Rwanda or Bosnia The important part of the article that needs to be remembered. McCain is hardly a liberal or even what up until a few years ago would have been considered a moderate. I am old enough to remember the seeming joke when McCain, a poster boy for extracting cash and then doing favors for unsavory characters, started to talk out about reforming the lobyist/ campaign contribution system. As Deckard says it is so long ago few remember the Keating Five scandal.
McCain is the R i find most trustworthy. his strongest asset, viewed as a liability by right wing fanatics, is his ability to work both sides of the aisle. the next president will need to persuade folks of all ilks to a common goal. the position that the Rs are always correct and the Ds always incorrect, or vice versa, is a simpleton's perspective. Dubya's true legacy is a diminished window for success. non partisan appeal is a vital prerequisite for the successful candidate.
Except that doesn't work unless the other side compromises too. Then all you get is a r****d getting worked by the other party.
http://www.bostonherald.com/blogs/news/presidential_briefing/?p=161 Romney depicts loose cannon McCain - updated Less than 48 hours after proclaiming he would never get personal with another Republican, Mitt Romney’s latest campaign missive focuses on the temper of Arizona Sen. John McCain. The Romney camp frames the memo as a top-10 list of McCain’s “attacks” on Republicans. It could also be called “10 instances over the last eight years when McCain got angry or lost his cool.” Oh, and the missive pays special attention to McCain’s use of four-letter words that are not H-E-double-hockey-sticks. Update: On Thursday afternoon, Romney said, “One thing I’m also gonna point out is, particularly in a Republican campaign, I’m not going to talk about the character of the people I’m running against.” He also cited Ronald Reagan’s so-called 11th commandment, something along the lines of, “though shalt not attack fellow Republicans.” As per a request, here is a copy of the memo: THE MCCAIN WAY ATTACK REPUBLICANS A Top 10 List… 1. Defending His Amnesty Bill, Sen. McCain Lost His Temper And “Screamed, ‘***** You!’ At Texas Sen. John Cornyn” (R-TX). “Presidential hopeful John McCain - who has been dogged for years by questions about his volcanic temper - erupted in an angry, profanity-laced tirade at a fellow Republican senator, sources told The Post yesterday. In a heated dispute over immigration-law overhaul, McCain screamed, ‘F— you!’ at Texas Sen. John Cornyn, who had been raising concerns about the legislation. ‘This is chickens—stuff,’ McCain snapped at Cornyn, according to several people in the room off the Senate floor Thursday. ‘You’ve always been against this bill, and you’re just trying to derail it.’” (Charles Hurt, “Raising McCain,” New York Post, 5/19/07) 2. In 2000, Sen. McCain Ran An Attack Ad Comparing Then-Gov. George W. Bush To Bill Clinton. SEN. MCCAIN: “I guess it was bound to happen. Governor Bush’s campaign is getting desperate, with a negative ad about me. The fact is, I’ll use the surplus money to fix Social Security, cut your taxes and pay down the debt. Governor Bush uses all of the surplus for tax cuts, with not one new penny for Social Security or the debt. His ad twists the truth like Clinton. We’re all pretty tired of that. As president, I’ll be conservative and always tell you the truth. No matter what.” (McCain 2000, Campaign Ad, 2/9/00; www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHoXkCprdL4) 3. Sen. McCain Repeatedly Called Sen. Pete Domenici (R-NM) An “A**hole”, Causing A Fellow GOP Senator To Say, “I Didn’t Want This Guy Anywhere Near A Trigger.” “Why can’t McCain win the votes of his own colleagues? To explain, a Republican senator tells this story: at a GOP meeting last fall, McCain erupted out of the blue at the respected Budget Committee chairman, Pete Domenici, saying, ‘Only an a–hole would put together a budget like this.’ Offended, Domenici stood up and gave a dignified, restrained speech about how in all his years in the Senate, through many heated debates, no one had ever called him that. Another senator might have taken the moment to check his temper. But McCain went on: ‘I wouldn’t call you an a–hole unless you really were an a–hole.’ The Republican senator witnessing the scene had considered supporting McCain for president, but changed his mind. ‘I decided,’ the senator told Newsweek, ‘I didn’t want this guy anywhere near a trigger.’” (Evan Thomas, et al., “Senator Hothead,” Newsweek, 2/21/00) 4. Sen. McCain Had A Heated Exchange With Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA) And Called Him A “*****ing Jerk.” “Senators are not used to having their intelligence or integrity challenged by another senator. ‘Are you calling me stupid?’ Sen. Chuck Grassley once inquired during a debate with McCain over the fate of the Vietnam MIAs, according to a source who was present. ‘No,’ replied McCain, ‘I’m calling you a f—ing jerk!’ (Grassley and McCain had no comment.)” (Evan Thomas, et al., “Senator Hothead,” Newsweek, 2/21/00) 5. In 1995, Sen. McCain Had A “Scuffle” With 92-Year-Old Sen. Strom Thurmond (R-SC) On The Senate Floor. “In January 1995, McCain was midway through an opening statement at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing when chairman Strom Thurmond asked, ‘Is the senator about through?’ McCain glared at Thurmond, thanked him for his ‘courtesy’ (translation: buzz off), and continued on. McCain later confronted Thurmond on the Senate floor. A scuffle ensued, and the two didn’t part friends.” (Harry Jaffe, “Senator Hothead,” The Washingtonian, 2/97) 6. Sen. McCain Accused Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) Of The “Most Egregious Incident” Of Corruption He Had Seen In The Senate. “It escalated when McCain reiterated the charges Oct. 10 in a cross-examination, calling McConnell’s actions the ‘most egregious incident’ demonstrating the appearance of corruption he has ever seen in his Senate career.” (Amy Keller, “Attacks Escalate In Depositions,” Roll Call, 10/21/02) 7. Sen. McCain Attacked Christian Leaders And Republicans In A Blistering Speech During The 2000 Campaign. MCCAIN: “Unfortunately, Governor Bush is a Pat Robertson Republican who will lose to Al Gore. … The political tactics of division and slander are not our values… They are corrupting influences on religion and politics, and those who practice them in the name of religion or in the name of the Republican Party or in the name of America shame our faith, our party and our country. Neither party should be defined by pandering to the outer reaches of American politics and the agents of intolerance, whether they be Louis Farrakhan or Al Sharpton on the left, or Pat Robertson or Jerry Falwell on the right.” (Sen. John McCain, Remarks, Virginia Beach, VA, 2/28/00) 8. Sen. McCain Attacked Vice President Cheney. MCCAIN: “The president listened too much to the Vice President . . . Of course, the president bears the ultimate responsibility, but he was very badly served by both the Vice President and, most of all, the Secretary of Defense.” (Roger Simon, “McCain Bashes Cheney Over Iraq Policy,” The Politico, 1/24/07) 9. Celebrating His First Senate Election In 1986, Sen. McCain Screamed At And Harassed A Young Republican Volunteer. “It was election night 1986, and John McCain had just been elected to the U.S. Senate for the first time. Even so, he was not in a good mood. McCain was yelling at the top of his lungs and poking the chest of a young Republican volunteer who had set up a lectern that was too tall for the 5-foot-9 politician to be seen to advantage, according to a witness to the outburst. ‘Here this poor guy is thinking he has done a good job, and he gets a new butt ripped because McCain didn’t look good on television,’ Jon Hinz told a reporter Thursday. At the time, Hinz was executive director of the Arizona Republican Party. … Hinz said McCain’s treatment of the young campaign worker in 1986 troubled him for years. ‘There were an awful lot of people in the room,’ Hinz recalled. ‘You’d have to stick cotton in your ears not to hear it. He (McCain) was screaming at him, and he was red in the face. It wasn’t right, and I was very upset at him.’” (Kris Mayes and Charles Kelly, “Stories Surface On Senator’s Demeanor,” The Arizona Republic, 11/5/99) 10. Sen. McCain “Publicly Abused” Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL). “[McCain] noted his propensity for passion but insisted that he doesn’t ‘insult anybody or fly off the handle or anything like that.’ This is, quite simply, hogwash. McCain often insults people and flies off the handle…. There have been the many times McCain has called reporters ‘liars’ and ‘idiots’ when they have had the audacity to ask him unpleasant, but pertinent, questions. McCain once… publicly abused Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama.” (Editorial, “There’s Something About McCain,” The Austin American-Statesman, 1/24/07)
