Exploiting NOLA for Political Gain - McSame as it Ever Was

Why the sudden concern for NOLA now? Maybe its an election year? What happened in 2005 after Katrina hit?



McSame as it ever was . . .

McSame's Right Wing Nut Job Buddies

I'm betting dollars to donuts that the irony (albeit morbid irony) is completely lost on this right-wing nut from McCain supporting "Focus on the Family."

Convention Postponed . . . ?

"You know it just wouldn't be appropriate to have a festive occasion while a near tragedy or a terrible challenge is presented in the form of a natural disaster." - John S. McCain.

Would that he walked the walk, instead of just talking the talk:



Pictured above: John McCain and George Bush, 08/29/05, celebrating McCain's birthday in Arizona, the day Katrina ravaged NOLA.

Updated:

McSame's Politics before Country

From Bush speechwriter, David Frum on Palin:

Here's I fear the worst harm that may be done by this selection. The McCain campaign's slogan is "country first." It's a good slogan, and it aptly describes John McCain, one of the most self-sacrificing, gallant, and honorable men ever to seek the presidency.

But question: If it were your decision, and you were putting your country first, would you put an untested small-town mayor a heartbeat away from the presidency?

Nuclear McSame - Scary to think This Guy Could be in Charge

Helps if Your VP Pick Knows What The Job Entails . .

Are you kidding?

Begin at 2:50 (ignore the "scandal" talk at the beginning). The "meat" IMHO, is her cluelessness about VP duties.

John McCain -- Good On Yah, as the Aussies Would Say

Too bad this is by far the exception, rather than the rule for McSame this campaign season.

Here's hoping, though.

Myth of the Maverick - "Candidate McCain"

John Kerry nails it:

McSame is TESTY!

WTF is up with the grumpy old man routine? Can you imagine if the other candidate refused to answer a question which seems to be central to his own campaign?

[Q]What do you want voters to know coming out of the Republican Convention — about you, about your candidacy?

[A]I'm prepared to be President of the United States, and I'll put my country first.

[Q]There's a theme that recurs in your books and your speeches, both about putting country first but also about honor. I wonder if you could define honor for us?

[A]Read it in my books.

[Q]I've read your books.

[A] No, I'm not going to define it.

[Q]But honor in politics?

[Q] I defined it in five books. Read my books.

Notice too, the "I'll put my country first" -- does that mean that Obama won't? Is that a distinguishing feature? "Mavericky" McSame has left the building. All that is left is this douchebag who maligns the patriotism of his opponent.

Sad. Really. Just sad.

McSame

Great line from last night: "That's not a Maverick, that a Sidekick" -- referring to the fact that McSame has voted with Bush 95% of the time.

Accompanying photo, via DailyKos:

McCain: Clinton = "The Bitch"

Ah, oldies, but goodies. Laughable enough, it would be if McSame were only trying to hoodwink/court Clinton supporters based on charm (i.e., ignoring that they are "polar opposites" on policy), but it delves into preposterous to recall that McSame and his supporters refer to Hillary Clinton as "the Bitch."

Lets recap:

1. Polar Opposites on Policy.
2. Tells homophobic jokes "explaining" why Clinton's daughter is "ugly."
3. Refers to her as "the Bitch."

Sounds like a sure-fire way to garner support to me:



Oh, and McSame's response to the "how do we beat 'the Bitch'" question?

"Good question."

McSame's Economic Cluelessness

McSame v. Clinton: "Polar Opposites on Policy"

One wonders about the HRC supporters drifting to McSame. Clearly not an "issues" based decision. Here's what Sen. Lindsey Graham had to say prior to either even entering the race:

“If they get through a primary election, they would be polar opposites on policy,” said Senator Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican and a close ally of Mr. McCain who has traveled with both senators. “On the major issues, it’d be a fairly clear choice. But I believe that the personal relationship hopefully could survive the political process.”

Increase McSame's Budget for . . . . SERVANTS!?

. . or not. McSame paid how much? for servants?

Holy, crap. And they've got the nerve to knock Obama for visiting family in Hawaii?

The McCains increased their budget for household employees from $184,000 in 2006 to $273,000 in 2007, according to John McCain’s tax returns.

The additional cash supports an “increase in the number of employees,” said the McCain aide, who did not say whether the growing staff stemmed from the addition of new properties to the family’s real estate portfolio.

Counting McSame's Houses

The Fabulous Life of John McSame

Can Grampy McSame be Bought?

McSame? Or McSellout? Does it matter?



Video from the Jed Report.

McSame as it Ever Was

My favorite money quote (pardon the pun) in this clip, is McSame saying that he doesn't think its the role of government to bail out the "irresponsible" whether individuals or corporations.

Wha? How much did the Keating 5 / Lincoln Savings debacle cost tax payers for the bailout? $2.6 billion?

This guy has completely sold out and is willing to do or say anything to get elected.

McSame - Selling Out What Little Integrity He has Left

Per Jonathan Alter:

. . . falsehoods . . . [by] McCain.

For about a month, McCain's campaign has been resorting to charges that are patently false. When Obama traveled abroad in July, to positive reviews, McCain decided he had to make attack ads that went far beyond the norm. . . . These smears come directly from the candidate.

First, a McCain ad charged that Obama was responsible for higher gas prices, which was not just false but absurd. Next, an ad said Obama had cancelled his trip to visit wounded soldiers in Germany because he couldn't bring the press along. I was in Germany at the time, and as every reporter knew, the visit to the military hospital was never going to be open, not even to a press pool. It appeared on no press schedules. Obama had cancelled the visit when it was clear that the Pentagon viewed it as political. The charge was simply untrue.

. . . when he resorts to these kinds of falsehoods, and casts such aspersions on his opponent's patriotism, John McCain is no longer putting his country first. If he were, he would recognize that the interests of the nation require a relatively truthful campaign. To fulfill his image of himself, McCain should stop lying about his opponent. For a man with his claims to honor and integrity, that's not too much to ask.

McSame - Clueless

Gramps seems a bit clueless about the economy, like his predecessor, McBush.

McSame - Never

McSame - Doesn't Everyone Forget How Many Houses they Own?

Holy crap. How in the hell does this guy manage to keep a hold of an "everyman" brand? His folks are good.

In my book, any time you forget how many houses you own, you are (a) rich, and (b) not a "regular guy".

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said in an interview Wednesday that he was uncertain how many houses he and his wife, Cindy, own.

"I think - I'll have my staff get to you," McCain told us in Las Cruces, N.M. "It's condominiums where - I'll have them get to you."

The correct answer is at least four, located in Arizona, California and Virginia, according to his staff. Newsweek estimated this summer that the couple owns at least seven properties.

From Politico.

UPDATE:



UPDATE II:



H/T Talking Points Memo

McSame - Selling out the Middle Class

. . . to the rich:

Sell Out

Man, "Maverick" no more for this guy. He's a wholesale sell out.

Endorsements for McSame

H/t Crooks and Liars, via . . .

Makes sense to me. I'd have capitalized "not," though.

McSame's "Cross in the Dirt" Story

I think that Andrew Sullivan captures the essence of this controversey perfectly:

But the compromises McCain has made in his pursuit of power strike me as central to this election.

And here:

This is not about impugning McCain's heroism. His decision to forgo early release in Vietnam - despite being subjected to "enhanced interrogation" - makes him a far, far better man than I and most of us will ever be. It is about how Christianism corrupts a campaign. And how even a man like McCain is susceptible to these pressures.

If you haven't been following, this concerns McCain's story of a POW Guard apparently showing some religious solidarity with McCain over Christmas in 1969 and the myriad of circumstantial evidence, which fairly strongly suggest that this is either an outright fabrication, or a serious embellishment -- one pointed out years ago by the folks on the far right at the National Review.

Further Sullivan on Possible McCain Lies

There is no way to know for sure what happened between two people in a prison camp in an incident to which no one else was a witness more than a quarter century ago. And it's perfectly possible that all of it is true, if muddled. But when a candidate tells a story that doesn't really add up with his previous accounts, and when he runs a campaign ad based on that story whose imagery is closer to someone else's account than his own, when a life changing moment is forgotten for a quarter of a century until a critical campaign when an appeal to conservative Christians was vital, the question is worth fleshing out - and I will gladly air any evidence that emerges in McCain's defense.

I'm pretty much on the same page as Sullivan.

Its like these things with Hillary Clinton. Not a big deal in the abstract, but when you make yourself out to be a "straight talker" and it seems that you are more of a B.S. artist, then there seems to be a problem.

Questions Arise: Has McCain Made up Stories about POW Time?

Questions are coming fast and furious about the "Cross in the Dirt" story that McCain tells about his time as a POW.



McCain's POW status and his heroics during that period are well documented. Why then, would he fabricate a story about it?

But the evidence coming in certainly raises issues.

Andrew Sullivan and the Jed Report are both on it.

From the latter:

As for the story itself, the details of McCain's version of Solzhenitsyn's "Cross in the Dirt" story don't add up. Specifically:

1. As first reported by kos diarist rickrocket, McCain's story is nearly identical to a story told by Alexandr Solzhenitsyn.
2. In McCain's version of the story, a guard who had befriended him later drew the cross in the ground.
3. According to McCain's 1973 retelling of his experience, there was only one guard who he considered human, and that guard befriended him in 1969. (kos diarist Calouste made this connection, which extends into the next two points.)
4. This means that McCain's Christmas story would have taken place in 1969.
5. Between when he met that guard and Christmas of 1969, McCain changed prisons. Unless the guard followed him to the new prison, McCain's story is not true.

There is also a ton of circumstantial evidence raising doubts about McCain's story:

1. In McCain's early stories about his POW years, he made no mention of the story.
2. At a 1974 prayer breakfast arranged by Ronald Reagan, McCain did not tell the Solzhenitsyn story. He told a completely different one about a prisoner scratching a prayer into a wall. It is unimaginable that he would not have told the "Cross in the Dirt" story if it were true. (kos diarist TomP linked to another version of the prayer breakfast story, but the link was a dead link.)
3. There is no evidence McCain ever told this story before 1999.
4. McCain's story has shifted subtly over the years since he first told it in 1999. (His most recent written version is here.)
5. McCain (or, more likely, his ghost writer Mark Salter) is a huge fan of Alexandr Solzhenitsyn.

I'm John McSame and I approved this Negative Ad

What happened to this John McCain?

Such a disappointment. Did his sellout just happen, or, can we trace it to his defeat to W in 2004, when he knew he had to suck up to win the nomination in 2008?

Pathetic.

Swift Boating McSame?

No, not by democrats, but the Swift Boater himself.

If Republicans put so much stock in the lies this guy peddles, there ought to be plenty of outrage towards McSame based on this:



HT Crooks and Liars and Frank Rich.

McSame - I'm Pro Life

No Ifs, ands or Buts on this one. Perhaps the media can stop pretending that this guy is a "moderate" or "independent" on these types of issues.

You don't get more right-wing than McCain when it comes to a woman's right to choose.

McSame = Anti Choice.

95% McSame

The McSame retort? Obama (who they argue is the "most liberal" Senator) voted "lockste" with Bush 50% of the time.

McSame is a pathetic shell of his former self.

Mocking "Non Policy?"

McSame has the balls to mock Obama's suggestion that folks inflate their tires to ensure best gas mileage (which works, by the way) and says THIS about healthcare?

Pathetic.

"Exxon" John McSame

I'm a Celebrity? No YOU'RE a Celebrity

The celebrity stuff is sort of nonsensical, but its nice to see that McSame's hypocrisy is being highlighted front and center here.

Are Lobbyists All Mavericky?

What's so mavericky about lobbyists? Short answer: nothing. Why does McSame have a lobbyist running his campaign? Short answer: he's not a maverick.

McSame Can't Speak Publicly

WTF?

Is this for real?

McSame is ANNNNNNGRRREEEEE

McSame - Taxes By the Numbers

Who's Taxing Whom?

Who'd you rather have on taxes? Obama or McSame?

McCain Spears?

Two Bush lovers together?



A medicocre but amusing spoof.

McSame on the LOW Road?

I thought Mr. Maverick was supposed to be all high minded and stuff, promising not to run a negative campaign:



Surprisingly (?) No:



The man seems utterly devoid of principle, except the principle of gaining admission to the White House. Sad.

McSame

Bush lied. McSame lies too:

Grampy is McSame as Bush in his Speechifying Blunders

Is this guy just that old? Doesn't care? Doesn't know? Good good, this man has problems.

Courtesy Taking Points Memo's Veracifier:

McSame as Bush Ever Was . . .

I'm getting a kick out of hearing Right-wing gasbags on the TeeVees proclaiming that Obama ads which use McCain footage, saying he voted with the President [Bush II] over 90 per cent of the time and agrees with him on most major issues, is a "negative" ad.

How quickly they forget that being a "true conservative" instead of a "Maverick" was McSame's war cry just a few short months ago.

Apparently, they recognize the folly of their ways? Or, the expediency of running as a "Maverick" in the general. Either way, it just shows what a panderer Gramps really is.

McSame as Bush on "Fiscal Conservatism"

McSame wants to portray Obama as not only a "celebrity" but as a tax raiser. Scary.

Except if you consider the following, from Steve Greenberg:

Cafferty - "Maverick" Stuff is a lot of "Hooey"

Apparently Jack Cafferty is also coming to realize that the "Maverick" brand that McSame has cultivated for so long, with the Corporate Media's complicity, is, as he put it, bunch of "hooey."

Video at Crooks and Liars.

Grampy McSame - Maverick No More . . .

Apparently, Gramps is running an ad with some of these dems saying that McSame is all Mavericky and stuff. Lately, not so much.

Wrinkly Old White Haired Dude

Paris Hilton didn't take kindly to being featured in Grampy's latest ads. She strikes back. Whoops. Fortunately, Grampy doesn't read the interenets, so he probably doesn't know that this response highlighting his age, is viewed more often than his own ad.

See more Paris Hilton videos at Funny or Die

No Wonder Hillary Supporters Are Supporting This Guy . . .?

What in the world are Senator Clinton's supporters thinking that they'd support McCain?

Is it that both McCain and Clinton share that same love of sexism and objectification?



What a douchebag? Seriously? Do you file this more under sexist? Or Panderer?