posted 8/22/08

McCain's Houses

John McCain has a lot of houses. How many?

He can't keep track.

Yesterday, when asked by reporters how many homes he owns, McCain responded, "I think -- I'll have my staff get to you."

This is the latest in a string of striking and revealing comments by McCain. Recently he said that from his perspective "the fundamentals of our economy are strong" right now, then he said that millionaires are not rich as long as they're making less than $5 million a year.

Today, the Obama campaign launched a television ad exposing just how out-of-touch McCain is with the realities American families face.

Watch the ad and write a letter to your local newspaper about John McCain's out-of-touch economic policies

In an economy where millions of Americans are sinking under high mortgages and rising gas prices, we can't afford another president who doesn't get it.

In John McCain's world, the limits on campaign contributions should rise with inflation, but the minimum wage should not. In fact, he believes there shouldn't be any increase at all in the minimum wage.

How can he help the middle class when he doesn't know who they are? And how can he fix the economy if he doesn't know it's broken?

McCain's money may have bought him a lot of houses, but there's one house we can't afford to let McCain add to his list: the White House. Not on our watch.

Please watch the Obama campaign's ad and write a letter to your local papers about how out-of-touch John McCain is with economic realities:

http://www.democrats.org/howmanyhouses

Keep fighting the good fight,

DNC Rapid Response Team

P.S. -- The answer is at least seven. And they are worth more than $13 million dollars.

POSTED 8/22/08

Inconsistency McCain's only consistency

 (From the Daily KOS  by MissLaura )

John McCain to George W. Bush, in 2000:

In other words your position is you believe there’s an exemption for rape, incest, and life of the mother, but you want the platform that you’re supposed to be leading to have no exemption...

It doesn’t have the exemptions in it and you know that very well...

Read the platform. It has no exceptions...

In 2007:

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., told ABC News Saturday that he still wants to change the GOP's abortion platform to explicitly recognize exceptions for rape, incest, and the life of the mother.

McCain reaffirmed his difference with party doctrine on permissible abortion exceptions after speaking to the Iowa Republican Party's Lincoln Day Dinner in Des Moines.

And today:

But now that he is the presumptive Republican nominee, the McCain camp is making it clear that he has no plans to push for changes to the platform.

McCain's decision to leave the platform untouched follows a warning from a prominent social conservative.

"If he were to change the party platform," to account for exceptions such as rape, incest or risk to the mother's life, "I think that would be political suicide," Tony Perkins, the president of the conservative Family Research Council, told ABC News in May. "I think he would be aborting his own campaign because that is such a critical issue to so many Republican voters and the Republican brand is already in trouble."

Gosh, it's almost like the man will say anything to get elected.

POSTED 7/19/08

How do you know if McCain is flip-flopping?
How do you know if McCain is lying?

McCain's YouTube Problem Just Became a Nightmare

     POSTED 7/19/08

POSTED 8/14/08

McCain and Social Security

McCain's worth over $100 million. He owns 10 houses...he flies around on a $12.6 million corporate jet...he walks around in $520 Italian loafers.

If John McCain lost his social security, he'd get by just fine.

Would you?

POSTED 8/14/08

Top McCain adviser lobbied for Republic of Georgia

Senator John McCain faces another political entanglement with top adviser Randay Scheunemann, who was a registered lobbyist for the Georgian government until earlier this year, Politico reported.

A public relations firm working for the Russian Federation disclosed the information to the Obama and McCain campaigns, making it clear that McCain's Saturday morning criticism of Russian violence in Georgia is neither welcome nor without hypocrisy.

The Obama campaign immediately took advantage of the disclosure.

"John McCain’s top foreign policy adviser lobbied for, and has a vested interest in, the Republic of Georgia and McCain has mirrored the position advocated by the government," said Obama spokesman Hari Sevugan.

Sevugan added that it was a "conflict of interest" following naturally from McCain's close ties to lobbyists.

Scheunemann said such criticism is unjust considering that he severed his ties to Georgia and the firm representing it March 1 and that McCain has supported the country's shift towards the West since he visited in 1997.

But Scheunemann, the chief foreign policy adviser for the campaign, had already been working for the McCain campaign for months before he ended registered ties with several foreign governments including Georgia, The New York Times reported.

McCain took Scheunemann with him on a trip to Georgia in 2006.

The Republican Senator harshly criticized Russia for fighting in Georgia that has already claimed more than 2,000 lives.

That brought chiding from the Obama camp, which said McCain was quick to judge a complicated situation, adding that the international community needs to get involved to protect Georgia's sovereignty.

Scheunemann defended McCain's statement and criticized the Obama campaign, suggesting it was placing too much blame on both countries.

"Sen. McCain is clearly willing to note who he thinks is the aggressor here," Scheunemann said. "I don't think you can excuse, defend, explain or make allowance for Russian behavior because of what is going on in Georgia."

The adviser did not mention that fighting in Georgia began when the country's government tried to retake a pro-Russian region that won autonomy from Georgia in the early 1990s, The New York Times reported.

Scheunemann has been at the center of several scandals, including recent evidence that linked him with a lobbyist under scrutiny from Congress for offering access to top White House officials in exchange for six-figure donations.

The adviser's troublesome connections are one reason why The Wall Street Journal said McCain is "on the defense over ties to lobbyists."

 POSTED 8/13/08

Catching the Wrong John:

When Are the Media Going to Talk about John McCain's Infidelity?

If John Edwards' infidelity is news, and he's not a candidate for anything, why isn't John McCain's?

(From Alternet) My first thought upon hearing the "big news" on all the cable stations -- straight from the pages of the nation's leading investigative newspaper, the National Enquirer -- that John Edwards had been caught with his trousers down, was, "Oh, no, what if this cuts into the story of that little girl who disappeared whose mother hasn't seemed to figure out that someone is recording her jailhouse telephone conversations and putting them on the news! How will I ever get the news I need tonight?"

Let me be clear. I'm not a proponent of infidelity. As a clinical psychologist, I've seen its corrosive impact on many a marriage. But Edwards isn't running for president anymore. He's not running for Pope as far as I know. And he's not even a sitting elected official. To watch Larry King interview two "journalists" from the National Enquirer on his show Friday night was as pathetic as seeing the Edwards affair on the front page of the New York Times. If the media ran stories on every former or sitting elected official who ever had an affair, those stories alone would fill the news or sports sections of every newspaper (depending on how they classified them).

<snip>

But this media "affair" raises a more serious question. If John Edwards' infidelity is news, and he's not a candidate for anything, why isn't John McCain's? He reportedly had numerous affairs in the years after returning home from Vietnam to a beautiful wife who had been disfigured in a car accident, and ultimately, by his own reports, he zeroed in like a laser on beautiful a 25-year-old heiress upon meeting her one evening in 1979 while he was still married, promptly lied to her about his age, and almost as promptly left his wife for her. We all extol John McCain for enduring 5 years of extreme hardship in Vietnam. But aren't his first wife's circumstances much like Elizabeth Edwards'? After all, the first Mrs. McCain waited in agony (and presumably fidelity) during those five long years for her beloved husband to return from Vietnam, raising their children while he was away and undergoing dozens of painful operations herself, only to be repaid by a philandering husband who ultimately left her for a younger woman.

Now personally, I don't think anybody's sex life has any bearing on a campaign, except to the extent that the candidate runs as a hypocrite, extolling family values, fighting gays while fighting his own gay demons, etc. But John McCain is increasingly making this campaign about character, and his actions over many years suggest some worrisome patterns that fly in the face of the entire story he tells about himself. Setting aside his cheating on his first wife, what about his attending to something other than the people's business as a member of the Keating Five (and ultimately contributing to a bailout that cost middle class American taxpayers the equivalent of nearly half a trillion in 2008 tax dollars -- imagine the middle class tax break we could offer if we weren't still paying off the principal and debt on that boondoggle); or hiring the most dishonest, amoral campaign team money could buy in 2008; or generating one fabricated or grossly misleading charge after another against Obama in the last three weeks (as in his sleazy new tax ad where, for example, he says Obama would raise taxes on small businesses when Obama has never proposed anything of the sort)? Like George W. Bush, he doesn't seem like a man who once was lost but now is found. He seems more like a man's whose principles are soluble in self-interest.

There's more - Go toarticle at Alternet       POSTED 8/13/2008

POSTED 7/28/08

 POSTED 7/24/08

McSexist: McCain's War on Women

By Kate Sheppard, In These Times. Posted July 24, 2008.

ED NOTE: This is a copyrighted story from the In These Times (via Alternet). The following excerpt is offered as a "tease" so you will visit the In These Times (via Alternet) and read the entire article. Hyperlink at end of the article.

(From Alternet) Sen. John McCain's (R-Ariz.) campaign and the media would have us believe that herds of disaffected women voters will be stampeding to the Republicans this year because a woman candidate won't be on the presidential ballot in November.

McCain's campaign has been making a clear play for women voters in recent weeks, hosting conference calls with Republican women and touting that his policies on national security, the economy and healthcare appeal to women voters.

But the suggestion that women -- and feminist women, at that -- will be lining up behind him is a fairytale. At least, it should be. McCain's record and policies on issues of importance to women are neither moderate nor maverick.

In The Nation, Katha Pollitt put it simply: "[T]o vote for McCain, a feminist would have to be insane."

But the chatter about the voting decisions of former presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) supporters continues. Much of the recent talk has focused on PUMAs (the acronym stands for "Party Unity My Ass"), a group supposedly so angry about the Democratic primary that they won't vote for Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.). But as blogger Amanda Marcotte reported, PUMA PAC was started by a McCain donor, according to the Federal Election Commission.

That doesn't mean there aren't angry Clinton voters. But the number of progressive or even moderate voters who would seriously consider voting for McCain is much smaller than the media would have you believe. Unfortunately, McCain's propaganda seems to be working, at least on those who aren't aware of his record on issues of concern to women voters.

A February Planned Parenthood poll of 1,205 women voters in 16 battleground states found that 50 percent of women voters don't know McCain's position on abortion, and that 49 percent of women who backed McCain were pro-choice. Forty-six percent of women supporting McCain said they'd like to see Roe v. Wade upheld -- though McCain says he supports overturning the decision. When they learned of his position on Roe, 36 percent of women who identified as both pro-choice and likely McCain voters said they would be less likely to vote for him.

These moderate, often suburban, middle-class women could be critical swing voters this election. At the time of the Planned Parenthood poll, Obama held only a 5 percentage-point margin over McCain with its swing-state demographic, 41 percent to 36 percent.

Planned Parenthood concludes that these findings suggest "that just filling in McCain's actual voting record and his publicly stated positions on a handful of key issues has the potential to diminish his total vote share among battleground women voters by about 17 to 20 percentage points."

"The only reason [McCain is] saying he's going after Clinton voters is because if he doesn't win their votes, he's not going to win this election," says Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood. "Even though I think it's a real wash-up for him, he's got to find some more voters somewhere. That's the political math here."

THERE'S MORE - GO TO Alternet       POSTED 6/9/07

 POSTED 7/19/08

McCain just gave up any crossover supporters from Hillary Clinton's campaign:

McCain calls Obama health care plan 'Hillary-Care '

(From CNN)   KANSAS CITY, Missouri (CNN) – John McCain devoted a substantial chunk of his town hall meeting Thursday to drawing contrasts with Barack Obama on health care policy, stressing his opposition to the presumptive Democratic nominee's health care plan and noting the "great difference" between them on abortion.

McCain's strongest denunciation of Obama came when discussing the Democrat's health care plan, which would cost $50-65 billion per year but would not mandate insurance coverage for all adults, only children.

"My friends, we've seen this movie before," McCain said. "It was called 'HillaryCare' back in 1993, and we're not going to do it again. We're not going to have the government take over the health care system in America."

At a later moment in the town hall, when stressing his own bipartisan record, McCain accused Obama of generally having "the most extreme record of any member of the United States Senate."

McCain also went out of his way early in the event to trumpet his opposition to abortion rights and a called partial-birth abortion a "hideous procedure that should never be allowed anywhere on earth." He promised "active advocacy for the rights of the unborn."

McCain struck a more moderate tone when taking a question about federal funding for stem cell research, which he supports. The Arizona senator argued the government should fund research on stem cells — especially skin cells — because of their "incredible potential" to combat diseases. However, the presumptive Republican nominee avoided using the term "embryonic" when discussing the matter Thursday.

AND REMEMBER: MCCAIN'S HEALTH CARE IS MC-SAME -- HE HAS NO REAL HEALTH CARE SOLUTIONS FOR THIS COUNTRY EXCEPT THE FAILED REPUBLICAN/BUSH POLICIES.

THERE'S MORE - GO TO CNN STORY      POSTED 7/19/08

POSTED 7/19/08

McCain Trying to Leak Details Of Obama Iraq Visit

(From the Daily KOS by turneresq )

This is just pathetic. The media has graciously kept the details of Obama's Iraq visit private, because of legitimate security concerns. So leave it to McCain try to blow that up by speculating on the details of Obama's visit.

DIGG IT UP!

Story:

DETROIT (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate John McCain said on Friday that his Democratic opponent, Barack Obama, is likely to be in Iraq over the weekend.

The Obama campaign has tried to cloak the Illinois senator's trip in some measure of secrecy for security reasons. The White House, State Department and Pentagon do not announce senior officials' visits to Iraq in advance.

"I believe that either today or tomorrow -- and I'm not privy to his schedule -- Sen. Obama will be landing in Iraq with some other senators" who make up a congressional delegation, McCain told a campaign fund-raising luncheon.

What an ass. As the Reuters report states, the Obama Campaign has been trying to keep the details on the exact timing of the trip vague for security reasons. They also note that the White House, State Department and Pentagon do not announce senior official visits in advance.

I'm not sure what type of game McCain is trying to play here, but his behavior in the past week has become increasingly douchy. Examples include predictions of election terror as well as implying that Obama is a Socialist.

POSTED 7/16/08

Flashback: McCain joked about how much women love to be raped.

From Think Progress  The blog Rum, Romanism and Rebellion pulls out a 1986 Tucson Citizen article recounting a joke about rape told by Sen. John McCain (R-AZ). Speaking to the National League of Cities and Towns in Washington, DC, McCain allegedly said:

Did you hear the one about the woman who is attacked on the street by a gorilla, beaten senseless, raped repeatedly and left to die? When she finally regains consciousness and tries to speak, her doctor leans over to hear her sigh contently and to feebly ask, “Where is that marvelous ape?”

McCain was swiftly criticized by women’s groups. A spokeswoman for NOW in Arizona said the organization’s members were “incensed by his cruel and sexist remark.” McCain said he did not “recall” telling the joke. More recently, the McCain campaign scheduled a fundraiser with a Texas oilman who compared rape to the weather while running for governor. “As long as it’s inevitable, you might as well lie back and enjoy it,” said Clayton Williams in 1990. After public outcry, the event was “postponed.”

From Think Progress  

POSTED 7/6/08

Employers use federal law to deny benefits

(From the Detroit News) WASHINGTON (AP) -- Dying of cancer, Thomas Amschwand did everything he was told to make sure his wife would collect on the life insurance policy he had through his employer.

"He was obsessed with dotting every `i' and crossing every `t'," Melissa Amschwand-Bellinger recalled about her husband, who died in 2001 at age 30.

But Spherion Corp., the temporary staffing company where Amschwand worked, told Amschwand-Bellinger she would not receive any of the $426,000 in benefits she believed she was due. When she went to court, Spherion succeeded in getting her lawsuit thrown out. The Supreme Court on June 27 refused to review the case.

Amschwand-Bellinger received a refund of the few thousand dollars in insurance premiums she and her husband dutifully had paid. The total, she said, would not cover the costs of his funeral.

The story has played out often under the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act. Designed to protect employee benefits, the law has been used by employers as a shield against suits.

Federal appeals courts, interpreting Supreme Court decisions dating to 1993, consistently have said companies that offer health, life and retirement benefits under ERISA cannot be sued for large amounts of money, or damages. Instead, they can be sued only for typically smaller sums such as Amschwand's insurance premiums.

Several federal judges have bemoaned the unfairness even as they have felt constrained to rule in favor of employers.

 THERE'S MORE - GO TO THE DETROIT NEWS     POSTED 7/6/08

If this is the type of "justice" and federal court system you want -- just vote for McCain come November 2008.

POSTED 6/24/08 MOVED 7/13/08

Obama slams McCain's energy policy

(From CNN)  Sen. Barack Obama blasted Sen. John McCain's energy plans Tuesday as "gimmicks," saying his policies "will only increase our oil addiction for another four years."

"What Washington has done is what Washington always does: It's peddled false promises, irresponsible policy and cheap gimmicks that might get politicians through the next election but won't lead America toward the next generation of renewable energy," Obama said in Las Vegas, Nevada.

"For decades, John McCain has been a part of this failure in Washington."

Obama commended McCain for speaking out on climate change but said that "time and time again, he has opposed investing in the alternative sources of energy that have helped fuel some of the very same projects and businesses that he's now highlighting in this campaign."

Obama praised McCain's push to develop a better car battery but added, "I've been talking about this myself for the last few years."

He also criticized McCain's proposal to offer a $300 million prize to whoever is able to develop a suitable battery.

"When John F. Kennedy decided that we were going to put a man on the moon, he didn't put a bounty out for some rocket scientist to win -- he put the full resources of the United States government behind the project and called on the ingenuity and innovation of the American people -- not just in the private sector but also in the public sector."

McCain's campaign said its plan would lead to both short-term and long-term benefits.

THERE'S MORE - GO TO CNN STORY      POSTED 6/24/08

POSTED 7/4/08 MOVED 7/13/08

Clark stands by comments

(From Raw Story) Former Gen. Wesley Clark is standing by his criticism of John McCain as unprepared to serve as commander-in-chief.

In a televised interview Sunday, Clark noted that McCain's honorable and praiseworthy service in the Navy and as a prisoner of war in Vietnam does not alone qualify the Republican candidate to be president. Late Monday night, after McCain and his surrogates spent a day accusing Clark of denigrating his service, the onetime Democratic presidential candidate and supporter of Barack Obama stood by his original sentiment.

"There are many important issues in this Presidential election, clearly one of the most important issues is national security and keeping the American people safe. In my opinion, protecting the American people is the most important duty of our next President. I have made comments in the past about John McCain's service and I want to reiterate them in order be crystal clear. As I have said before I honor John McCain's service as a prisoner of war and a Vietnam Veteran. He was a hero to me and to hundreds of thousands and millions of others in Armed Forces as a prisoner of war. I would never dishonor the service of someone who chose to wear the uniform for our nation.

“John McCain is running his campaign on his experience and how his experience would benefit him and our nation as President. That experience shows courage and commitment to our country - but it doesn't include executive experience wrestling with national policy or go-to-war decisions. And in this area his judgment has been flawed - he not only supported going into a war we didn't have to fight in Iraq, but has time and again undervalued other, non-military elements of national power that must be used effectively to protect America But as an American and former military officer I will not back down if I believe someone doesn't have sound judgment when it comes to our nation's most critical issues.”

There's More - Go to Raw Story article                       POSTED 7/4/08

 POSTED 7/4/08

Veterans Respond to General Clark's Comments

 (From the Daily KOS  by Brandon Friedman )

We’ve heard from the pundits, the "strategists," and the politicians all day long on Wesley Clark's recent comments.  

That said, I’ve been terribly disappointed by the Democratic "strategists" who’ve fallen all over themselves in order to talk about how sacred military service is--specifically John McCain’s--and how awful General Wesley Clark’s comments were, even though not one "strategist" that I’ve listened to today has ever served a minute in uniform.  These ignorant, knee-jerking consultants on TV have been in an apparent race to concede ultimate authority on military matters to John McCain and the Republican Party since Sunday night.  It’s disgusting.  And these concessions have been so over-the-top destructive to our long-term plans for running the country, that I’m not even sure where to begin.

The bottom line is this: If Democrats tuck tail and run from Republicans in this instance, we run the risk of ceding authority on military issues to John McCain for the rest of the campaign.  Whether you like Clark or not, everyone has an interest in defending him vigorously in this case.  We cannot allow the Right and the media to get away with trashing the first guy to come out in prime time to slam McCain’s military "expertise."  If our organizations don’t defend Clark as being right in this case, we give in to the idea that Republicans are the parents in terms of national defense, and Democrats are the children--something those on the Right will be more than happy to reinforce.

This idea that we can’t question someone’s expertise on military matters simply because they served could very easily become the next "whoever is against the war is unpatriotic" mantra.  And that’s not something I’m prepared to accept.  

That said, one group we really haven’t heard much from today is the group that's actually served in Iraq and Afghanistan.  But that changes now.  

Here are a handful of the messages we’ve received at VoteVets.org since this morning.  Judge for yourselves what the troops who are left-of-center think about this whole deal.

THERE'S MORE - CLICK HERE TO GO TO VETERANS RESPOND      POSTED 7/4/08

POSTED 7/4/08

McCain Flips At Legit Question

By Jon Soltz  |  The Huffington Post  |  View story in the original context
PUBLISHED: July 03, 2008

(From VoteVets.org)  I've been running VoteVets.org for a couple of years now. In 2006 and in 2008, we've endorsed a number of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans for Congress. It's still a story that the press is largely interested in, and when they call me to talk about it, I always -- always -- get the same first question:

What is it about their honorable service in Iraq and/or Afghanistan that qualifies them to go to Congress?

It's a legit question, and neither I, nor any of the candidates, take any umbrage at it. As veterans of the current conflicts, they have a unique perspective on the wars that should be part of the debate on the floor of Congress, and a vote that helps shapes our security policy.

Yesterday, John McCain was asked basically the same question by a brave reporter at ABC News. The reporter, not falling for the hysterics and mock-outrage of the McCain camp over General Wesley Clark's comments simply asked what John McCain's experiences in Vietnam did to prepare him to lead the largest military on the face of the earth.

McCain's response?

"Please," he said, recoiling back in his seat in distaste at the very question.

Uh uh. That's not good enough. You would assume that given all the whining over General Clark's legitimate point, that John McCain had some obvious answer to the question. Instead, he refused to answer the question, and let Joe Lieberman and Lindsay Graham come to his defense, babbling to the reporter about character, but not a word about qualifications.

The fact of the matter is that General Clark was absolutely right. McCain's service, while heroic and honorable, is not very relevant when it comes to preparing him to be the military's ultimate commander. His experience didn't involve executive decision making in the military, or global strategy. Very few candidates for the presidency have had the experience in life that prepares them for that role. In fact, McCain said it himself in 2003, that some of our best Commanders in Chief had no military experience at all.

That's why the McCain campaign went into all-out outrage mode over General Clark's comments. It wasn't about being offended. It wasn't even about General Clark. It was about lashing out so strongly that the media would cower in fear, and not even think about putting a question like this to McCain -- a question to which he has no answer, and is afraid of being exposed on that point. And, for most of the week, that strategy was successful, as the press wimped out, and repeated the McCain talking points.

The reporter from ABC News didn't fall for it, and did his job. But he didn't get an answer. Maybe now, reporters will stuff their guts back in their bodies and keep asking McCain this legit question -- a question I get a version of all the time from the same reporters.

It's a legit question, and it's a question for which the American people deserve an answer.

POSTED 7/4/08

Defending Wes Clark

 (From the Daily KOS  by Lt Gen Robert G Gard )

The controversy over my colleague General Wesley Clark's comments on John McCain have generated a lot of media comment, much of it negative. I have known General Clark for many years: we served in the same Army and for the same country. He's a patriot. So to suppose that somehow Wesley Clark would denigrate John McCain's service to his country, while praising his bravery during the time that Senator McCain spent in an enemy prison, is absolutely ludicrous. So let's check the facts.  

On CBS's "Face the Nation," General Clark said that he believed John McCain was "untried and untested." Journalist Bob Schieffer asked him to explain what he meant. How could Clark make such a claim when "you're talking about somebody who was a prisoner of war? He was a squadron commander of the largest squadron in the Navy. He's been on the Senate Armed Services Committee for lo these many years. How can you say that John McCain is un-untested and untried?" And here's General Clark's answer:

Because in the matters of national security policy making, it's a matter of understanding risk. It's a matter of gauging your opponents, and it's a matter of being held accountable. John McCain's never done any of that in his official positions. I certainly honor his service as a prisoner of war. He was a hero to me and to hundreds of thousands and millions of others in Armed Forces as a prisoner of war. He has been a voice on the Senate Armed Services Committee, and he has traveled all over the world. But he hasn't held executive responsibility.

As a retired military officer and a soldier who served his country for over thirty years, I can tell you that there's nothing in what Wes Clark said with which I disagree. He has not only stated the facts, he knows something about them. John McCain was a prisoner of war, an officer who served as a squadron commander, and has been and is a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee. John McCain can put his service to country up against anyone's. But General Clark has served also -- and with great courage: he was wounded four times in Vietnam -- and like John McCain, he has met and seen the enemy.  

Is what Wesley Clark said true? Let's check some other facts: John McCain made claims about progress in security by walking through the streets of Baghdad. But as I recall, he was protected by at least a platoon of American soldiers and helicopters lying overhead. In matters of national security, as General Clark pointed out, "it's a matter of understanding risk," and it's "gauging your opponents;" and it's also a "matter of being held accountable."  

So I too honor John McCain. And, like General Clark, I acknowledge his sacrifice for his country. But being a prisoner of the Vietnamese and serving on the Senate Armed Services Committee does not automatically qualify one for the position of Commander-in-Chief -- understanding risks, gauging your opponents and being held accountable does. We must end this glib obeisance to sacrifice and ask deeper questions: is a man who sings "bomb, bomb, bomb ... bomb, bomb Iran" a man who understands risks? Is a man who says that we must keep our troops in Iraq until we achieve an ill-defined "victory" really know how to gauge America's opponents. If we want to hold people accountable, then let's stand behind my friend Wes Clark -- and hold John McCain accountable for what he's said.  

Oh, and one more thing: today President Bush signed the GI Bill --which Senator Barack Obama has unstintingly supported . The bill will spend $63 billion over ten years for increased college aid for military service members and veterans who served after September 11, 2001. Good judgment?

John McCain opposed it.

Lt. General Robert G. Gard Jr. (USA, Ret.) is the steering committee chairman of Vets for Obama. Visit their official site or join them on Facebook.

POSTED 6/23/08 moved 7/4/08

The Real McCain

From Truthout.Com » by: Paul Harris, The Observer / Guardian UK

(From Truthout.Com)  To his fans he's a lovable patriot with a maverick streak. But to his critics he's an anti-abortion Creationist who surrounds himself with religious extremists. Paul Harris uncovers the dark side of John McCain.

It is a vintage John McCain performance. Standing in a light-filled atrium at the University of Denver, McCain is espousing his vision for America's future relations with the world. He hits all the right notes, citing liberal icon John F Kennedy and conservative hero Ronald Reagan. He strikes a muscular tone against America's enemies, yet tempers it with restraint. He speaks of a 'common vision' among nations. 'I want us to rise to the challenges of our time, as generations before us rose to theirs,' he says. He addresses the audience as 'my friends' and promises a safer, more reasonable world. 'It still remains within our power to make in our time another, better world than we inherited,' he concludes. As the crowd applaud, McCain plunges into the throng to pump hands and sign autographs.

Welcome to the John McCain show 2008. It's powerful stuff, portraying McCain as the decent patriot of the middle ground and a steady hand for difficult times. For a lot of Americans - including many Democrats - it is a beguiling vision. They see a war hero whose courage was forged in a North Vietnamese POW camp. They see a maverick who spoke against the tortures of Abu Ghraib. They see a reformer who acts against lobbyists and political favours. They see a politician who has spent a lifetime serving his country and won a place in the hearts of the nation.

Now McCain is also trying to win the White House. He has taken his campaign to places far from the projected Republican road map to victory. He has spoken in the 'black belt' of rural Alabama. He has toured Appalachian coal country to talk about poverty. He has gone to the hippy enclave of Oregon to lecture on global warming. In short, he is a Republican that even liberals can love. And many do. McCain's appeal to America's vital middle ground could easily propel him to the Oval Office.

But there is another, very different side to John McCain. Away from the headlines and the stirring speeches, a less familiar figure lurks. It is a McCain who plans to fight on in Iraq for years to come and who might launch military action against Iran. This is the McCain whose campaign and career has been riddled with lobbyists and special interests. It is a McCain who has sided with religious and political extremists who believe Islam is evil and gays are immoral. It is a McCain who wants to appoint extreme conservatives to the Supreme Court and see abortion banned. This McCain has a notoriously volatile temper that has scared some senior members of his own party. If McCain becomes the most powerful man in the world it would be wise to know what lies behind his public mask, to look at the dark side of John McCain.

THERE'S MORE - GO TO Truthout.Com        POSTED 6/22/08

POSTED 6/8/08

The Quote That Defines John McCain

 (From MyDD by vcalzone)

ED NOTE: This article is NOT posted to discuss contraception, AIDS, and the epidemic in Africa. It is posted to show you a soulless politician -- a politician that has sold his heart and soul to so many groups and interests that he can no longer even speak on important issues without checking "his record." The issue below is important -- no matter which side you're on. John McCain is a man without convictions -- without principles -- and has to check his "record" on life and death issues -- common sense issues. This isn't our concept of the person who will hold the highest office of our nation. Our President should be a person of honor and integrity, one who has convictions and who holds true to his convictions. McCain is a flim-flam man: His essence is hype and selling his vote to the highest bidder. You don't believe us -- read this short article.

This is an oldie but still needs to be brought back up, since it's been awhile since I've seen it thrown around. Back in 2007, there was something I saw that turned me inexorably away from John McCain. I grew to like him again in time, but I read something that made me realize exactly what his campaign had become and who I would be voting for.

You see, I liked John McCain at one time. We all did, admit it. He was unafraid to challenge the Republicans at a time when even many Democrats weren't up to the task. He fought against corruption, tax breaks that eventually crippled the US economy (by being invested largely in foreign businesses), and for the environment. I saw him in much the same way a lot of America still sees him.

Then that started to change. Slowly at first. Hugging the man he rightly called an agent for intolerance. Embracing the man whose dirty campaigning forever soiled both him and US politics. And I noticed that McCain the moderate was suddenly becoming anything but. And I wondered why. I assumed he was pandering, and it upset me, but I still thought he had some sense. And then one day, I saw this:  (from March 16, 2007)

Q: "What about grants for sex education in the United States? Should they include instructions about using contraceptives? Or should it be Bush's policy, which is just abstinence?"

Mr. McCain: (Long pause) "Ahhh. I think I support the president's policy."

Q: "So no contraception, no counseling on contraception. Just abstinence. Do you think contraceptives help stop the spread of HIV?"

Mr. McCain: (Long pause) "You've stumped me."

Q: "I mean, I think you'd probably agree it probably does help stop it?"

Mr. McCain: (Laughs) "Are we on the Straight Talk express? I'm not informed enough on it. Let me find out. You know, I'm sure I've taken a position on it on the past. I have to find out what my position was. Brian, would you find out what my position is on contraception - I'm sure I'm opposed to government spending on it, I'm sure I support the president's policies on it."

Q: "But you would agree that condoms do stop the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. Would you say: `No, we're not going to distribute them,' knowing that?"

Mr. McCain: (Twelve-second pause) "Get me Coburn's thing, ask Weaver to get me Coburn's paper that he just gave me in the last couple of days. I've never gotten into these issues before."

I know it doesn't need to be said that McCain is a third term of Bush, but lost in the shuffle is that he has made himself into a downright phony. Make sure everyone who ever thinks of supporting McCain sees this quote. It will make them think twice about who the real phony is in this campaign.

POSTED 6/4/08

The Republican Base, Abandoned

(From the Daily KOS    by DemFromCT Tue Jun 03, 2008 at 08:02:10 PM PDT)

The Democrats don't need them. The 27% of dead-enders who think George W. Bush is doing a dandy job just got thrown to the wolves by John McCain in a speech that even Fox News panned.

In a setting that highlighted McCain's discomfort, with a venue that came across like a half-filled high school auditorium, John McCain pretended to the the candidate of change, and pretended that Barack Obama was the status quo candidate. That incompetence was the problem with the Bush administration. That he, McCain, is the green candidate with a green background. That John McCain will take the country in a new direction, different than where Republicans have gone before. And John McCain knew it all along.

Say what? Does that mean that Republicans will abandon the President because McCain thinks that this administration is incompetent and has led us astray for eight years? Why would Republicans who like Bush abandon both of you?

Why wait until November, John? You voted with Bush 95% of the time this year.  [Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) voted with President Bush 100 percent of the time in 2008 and 95 percent of the time in 2007.] You served birthday cake while New Orleans drowned, then voted against Katrina relief. And, frankly, based on what you've done and not what you say tonight, why would anyone on either side of the aisle believe you?

This is going to be fascinating. Because independents diverge from the Republican base on the issues, McCain can't woo them at the same time. One cable commenter suggested hard-core Republicans might not be watching tonight as he tried to woo independents. Fat chance of that. McCain isn't subtle enough to walk the line that would attract both the rabid base and indies at the same time. If there was any doubt of that, tonight's speech proved it.

And man, McCain better get some improvement out of his media people. He got clobbered tonight in the battle of visuals. He also looked as old and as tired as I have ever seen him. And that is what others saw as well

POSTED 5/29/08

President Bush is appearing with John McCain tonight in Arizona -- the presumptive GOP nominee's home state. You would think this would be a major attraction, no?

The event was originally scheduled for the Phoenix Convention Center but, due to a lack of interest, was moved to a private residence -- with no press.

An event in Utah was also downsized for the same reason.

John McCain's campaign is terrified of being seen with President Bush. They didn't even mention it in their morning e-mail to reporters.

Friends at South County Dems,

Last week, John McCain's campaign manager, Rick Davis, sent a memo to the McCain campaign staff about a brand new "conflicts policy."

This policy was designed to identify staffers with "conflicts" working within McCain's organization after three advisers resigned from the campaign. One was found to be working for an anti-Democrat "527" organization, and the other two -- a regional campaign manager and the convention CEO -- were found to have lobbied for the Myanmar junta in 2003.

Here's the punch line: Rick Davis, author of the memo and the person in charge of finding these "conflicts" within the campaign, founded his own lobbying firm, and, according to the Politico, "has made at least $2.8 million lobbying Congress since 1998."

But it gets worse. Charlie Black is McCain's chief political adviser. Over the past seven years, lobbying filings show he's used his connections with George Bush and Dick Cheney to lobby administration officials for dozens of wealthy clients. The Washington Post reported that "Black said he does a lot of his work by telephone from McCain's Straight Talk Express bus."

John McCain's commitment to keeping Washington lobbyists out of his campaign is a joke -- but it's not funny. It's shocking.

Since Davis sent around his "conflicts" memo, two more people have been shamed out of the McCain campaign. But why not Davis and Black? Of all the possible conflicts revealed, isn't lobbying from the campaign bus the worst? And does McCain care that his campaign manager made millions after starting his own lobbying shop? If those are acceptable, what exactly did McCain find about the people they let go?

Tell John McCain to fire Rick Davis and Charlie Black today. If he's really committed to keeping "conflicts" out of his campaign, he should have no trouble cleaning house the way he needs to.

http://www.democrats.org/FireTheLobbyists

This past Sunday, John McCain defended the situation by telling reporters that his lobbyist advisers are "not in the lobbying business; they've been out of that business."

And just yesterday, John McCain said he wants to have "the most comprehensive and transparent of any presidential campaign in history" when it comes to lobbyists. How can that be true when people like Charlie Black admit he's conducting his lobbying business on the back of the bus?

John McCain and his campaign can't have it both ways. On the one hand, he says "ethics and transparency are not election year buzz words." But, on the other hand, he and his top campaign advisors have no problem fudging about their lobbying records. When pressed on the discrepancy, they give a flip excuse: Americans don't care.

Demand honesty and openness in politics. Tell John McCain to fire Charlie Black and Rick Davis today:

http://www.democrats.org/FireTheLobbyists

Let's keep McCain accountable,

Howard Dean

POSTED 5/12/08 MOVED 5/28/08

Dean: Land Deals for Donors Show McCain's Real Priorities, Blatant Hypocrisy

(From the DNC) On the same day John McCain gave a speech aimed at repositioning himself as a "moderate" for the general election by claiming to be a "conservationist," the Washington Post highlights Senator McCain's true priorities.  According to the report, Senator McCain reversed himself and backed legislation resulting in a land swap that allowed one of his biggest donors to develop federal park land despite concerns from forestry officials that the deal would short-change taxpayers. Senator McCain "became a key figure in pushing the deal through Congress after the rancher and his partners hired lobbyists that included McCain's 1992 Senate campaign manager, two of his former Senate staff members (one of whom has returned as his chief of staff), and an Arizona insider who was a major Senator McCain donor and is now bundling campaign checks." [Washington Post, 5/9/08]

While Senator McCain claims voters should trust him to not put his special interest friends ahead of the public good, today's story is the latest in a string of scandals that highlight his pattern of casting aside the public interest and his own principles to benefit his campaign contributors and favored lobbyists.  Senator McCain helped steer a $35 billion dollar defense contract to a European defense contractor that hired three of Senator McCain's top campaign officials, weighed in on the sale of a Pittsburgh TV station after meeting with a campaign contributor involved in the deal, and has loaded his campaign with lobbyists from the telecommunications companies he was responsible for overseeing as chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee. 

Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean today issued the following statement:

"Senator McCain can cast himself as a friend of the environment all he wants, but the only friends he really stands up for are the donors and lobbyists running his campaign.  Senator McCain thinks he can simply say 'trust me' and the American people will turn a blind eye to his disturbing pattern of putting his special interest friends ahead of the public good. The voters know that Senator McCain's campaign rhetoric on the environment means nothing when he's willing to give his donors sweetheart deals and appoint right wing judges bent on gutting environmental regulations.  Senator McCain's hypocrisy on ethics and lobbying reform is one more reason he is the wrong choice for America's future."

 THERE'S MORE - GO TO ARTICLE

POSTED 5/5/08 MOVED 5/28/08

McCain is Lying about the Democrats' Health Care Proposals, Regrettably

 (From the Daily KOS by smintheus)

The NYT highlights yet more lies emanating from the mendacious 71 year old John McCain, this time about the health care reform proposals of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. McCain often states or implies that Obama and Clinton are advocating for a single-payer system or a nationalized health care system such as are common in Europe. Regrettably, they are doing no such thing.

The suggestion is incorrect. While both Senator Barack Obama of Illinois and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York are calling for universal health care and an expanded role for government, they stop well short of calling for a single-payer plan.

Mr. McCain has made the assertion several times in recent days, even as he and the Republicans have made repeated calls for accuracy on the campaign trail.

McCain has really been laying it on thick this week, "using language that evokes the specter of socialized medicine" as the Times puts it.

"There are those that want a massive government takeover of the health care system in America," Mr. McCain warned Thursday in Des Moines, as he made the case for his more market-based approach...

"But before you decide to sign on to that kind of a program, go to Canada, or go to European countries that have government-run health care systems," he continued. "My friends, they don’t work, they’re inefficient, and they end up in a two-tiered system where the wealthiest can afford to pay for their own health care and those with low income sometimes wait six or eight months for a routine kind of treatment. And that’s what I’m not going to let happen to the United States of America."

As a matter of fact, and unlike McCain, I have lived in Britain. I found the health care system there to be much better and more rational than the crazy health-care mess that Americans tolerate.

In any case, that has to be some of the most laughable fear-mongering that any Republican candidate has engaged in. A two-tier health-care system in which the rich get better coverage than the poor? Horrors! How could such an unfair imbalance ever be allowed to arise in the USA, a nation with no more than about 50 million uninsured, give or take a few million poor children? Never mind having to wait "sometimes" for months for "routine" (i.e. non-emergency) medical procedures, the uninsured in America tend to get no health care whatever, unless that is the government picks up the tab (to the tune of $45 billion per year).

If I were to editorialize, I'd want to make two points here: (1) John McCain is not my friend; (2) McCain's demagoguery on the health care crisis reveals what a hollow, shriveled soul he has.

 THERE'S MORE - GO TO DIARY AT THE DAILY KOS

Elizabeth Edwards: MSNBC Interview (McBush Health Care) 4.29.08

     POSTED 5/5/08

Pop-Up Double Talk, Episode 2: Health Care

     POSTED 5/5/08

POSTED 5/5/08

Disabled Group Members Arrested at McCain's Office

At least 20 disabled activists, most of them in wheelchairs, were arrested outside Sen. John McCain's offices Tuesday after being refused a meeting with the GOP presidential nominee-to-be over a bill to expand Medicaid coverage to more people who want in-home care.

"If he should be president, it would be ironic that he comes from a party that talks a lot about family values," said Bob Kafka, national organizer for ADAPT, a group advocating for passage of the bill. Without the legislation, many disabled and elderly people don't have the choice to apply coverage to anything other than institutional care, he said.

"Families are devastated because they don't have a choice to keep people at home," Kafka said.

McCain was not in his office during the protest. He was campaigning Tuesday in Florida on his health care plan.

The bill, stuck in committee since last year, would amend the Social Security Act to allow people who are eligible for Medicaid coverage of nursing home costs to spend it instead on home-based, or community care.

Sponsored by Sens. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, and Arlen Specter, R-Pa., it also would grant extra money to states that participate in the program, according to a summary of the bill.

Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois, rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination, are co-sponsors of the bill, but McCain is not.

Capitol Police Sgt. Kimberly Schneider said about 20 people from the group were arrested outside McCain's office in the Russell Senate Office Building on Tuesday and charged with unlawful assembly.

McCain's Senate chief of staff said the protesters turned down an offer to meet immediately with McCain's aides. Mark Busey said he didn't know McCain's position on the legislation but would ask. The chances are slim, however, that the senator himself would be meeting with members of the group.

"We are more than happy to let them know when he will be back in the Washington area at public events, town halls and the like," Busey said in a telephone interview. "Right now we do not know when he's going to be here for a meeting."

According to blogger Disabled Politico, "U.S. Capitol Hill Police quickly arrived in mass, but seemed confused about what to do about the protest. According to one officer on the scene, Congressional office takeovers are a rarity, and occur approximately once a year. For close to an hour, the activists, the police, and Senator McCain’s staff attempted to broker a resolution that would satisfy all parties at hand."

Excerpts from Roll Call article:

The protest is one in a series ADAPT has sponsored over the years in support of legislation that would shift federal money to community-based disability assistance and away from nursing homes and other institutions. The group held a similar protest at the Department of Health and Human Services on Monday. Medicaid currently pays for long-term care in nursing homes and other institutions but does not pay for the same services provided at an individual’s home. ADAPT and other disability activists argue that this “institutional bias” essentially forces people with disabilities to move into such facilities. The Community Choice Act would allow Medicaid dollars to flow to community-based care options, but the bill has yet to be considered on the floor in either chamber. Variations of the legislation have been introduced since the late 1990s but have stalled over cost estimates suggesting the bill could cost tens of billions of dollars annually. Disability advocates believe these estimates are wildly overstated, and supporters are working with the Congressional Budget Office to get a new, more realistic cost estimate for the bill before moving it to a vote in either chamber, according to Democratic staffers.

The following video posted at YouTube is said to show how "a deaf ADAPT protester was taken to the ground outside of John McCain's office when she didn't respond to instructions for Capitol Hill Police."

     POSTED 5/5/08

POSTED 4/30/08? MOVED 5/11/08

Commentary: John McCain's Miserable Record On Hurricane Katrina

Intellpuke: This commentary was written by Jonathan Stein and appeared in the Mother Jones edition for Friday, April 25, 2008.

John McCain's Time for Action tour arrived in New Orleans Thursday, where McCain toured the hurricane-damaged 9th Ward and criticized both the Bush Administration and Congress for its handling of the disaster. Lamenting the pace of recovery, McCain said, "I want to assure you it will never happen again in this country. You have my commitment and my promise." But McCain's record on Hurricane Katrina suggests that he was part of the problem, not the solution. McCain was on Face the Nationon August 28, 2005, as Katrina gathered in the Gulf Coast. He said nothing about it. One day later, when Katrina made landfall in Louisiana, McCain was on a tarmac at Luke Air Force Base in Arizona, greeting President Bush with a cake in celebration of McCain's 69th birthday. Three days later, with the levees already breached and New Orleans filling with water, McCain's office released a three-sentence statement