Come on, does the man have warts? We’re talking the top job in the country here, and the man can’t give us his medical history? Well, he promised us access to his medical history a couple times. Seems John McCain, MC Flip Flopper, is doing the flip flop again. (The guy’s going to strain something if he keeps up with this flip flopping, like he’s done with Hagee and Parsely in the last couple days.)
Much more at the original source.
Another Republican blogger calls McCain on his lies! The title of the post? “John McCain, Liar.”
I don’t know. For a man to whom integrity and honor is supposedly so important one would imagine he’d be slightly less cavalier about lying and breaking a promise, even if he didn’t like that promise.
Doubtless he disagrees with us. He thinks his policy is better. So what? The point of a promise is to, well, promise future outcomes, even if one wouldn’t choose those outcomes in absence of a promise.
One doesn’t really have to promise to do things one wants to do. One makes promises to do things one would not do, absent the promise.
This is the nasty edge of McCain’s conception of himself as impeccably righteous — he believes he’s so above the rest of us in terms of honesty and integrity he can also decide what constitutes a lie and what constitutes bad behavior and what represents a broken promise. As in, his mind, his presidency is absolutely indispensible to America, tiny deceptions like this are not merely excusable, but downright imperative, and thus justified.
Or perhaps it’s simpler: John McCain is unfailingly honorable; if he acts in a way that seems to be dishonorable, you must be perceiving it incorrectly, because John McCain is unfailingly honorable.
John McCain has a no tolerance policy for people who hold positions of trust in his campaign — they cannot be connected to 527 groups that campaign for or against any Presidential candidate. I’m betting McCain does not kick Joe Lieberman or Lindsey Graham out of his campaign hierarchy, though.
Much more in the All Spin Zone.
Another Republican blogger who’s upset with McCain’s lies about immigration reform and “enforcement”:
I can’t say I am surprised. Was anyone really buying that whole, ‘lesson learned, enforcement first’ happy talk during the primaries? He was barely able to keep the pretense up as it was.
Personally, I am glad Maverick is back and telling us what he really believes and wants. It makes it easier to not vote for him and ultimately it’s better for him. No one was buying his conversion and he looked silly trying to sell it. Better we are all honest about what our choices are this November. In reality though, I am sure most people have factored McCain’s true stance on immigration into their voting decision for awhile now.
In recent days, McCain has started talking up comprehensive immigration reform again, and that’s the straw that broke the elephant’s back for at least one prominent right wing blogger.
See, McCain had pledged during the primaries that he was going to abandon that stance, and many conservatives feel he never would have won the nomination had he not switched his opinion. And now that he’s signaling he’ll switch it back, well, they’re understandably furious.
After McCain took Florida and was practically a lock to capture the nomination, in keeping with my belief that it benefits conservatives to support the most conservative nominee, I wrote two columns called, Why You’re Going To Vote For John McCain In November And Like It! & There’s Nothing Conservative Or Principled About Helping A Democrat Beat John McCain In November. [...]Admittedly that was tough for me because I wasn’t a fan of the guy, but I believed that I had a responsibility, for whatever it was worth, to try to set an example. That was despite the fact that fighting amnesty is extremely important to me and John McCain was the chief Republican proponent of amnesty.
Of course, McCain claimed that he had changed his tune. Yes, he still supported amnesty, but he said he had heard the message that the American people were sending him and that he had been convinced that we needed security first, before we pursued an amnesty.
Then Hawkins points to these comments from an NY Times blog out yesterday…
He added: “I believe we have to secure our borders, and I think most Americans agree with that, because it’s a matter of national security. But we must enact comprehensive immigration reform. We must make it a top agenda item if we don’t do it before, and we probably won’t, a little straight talk, as of January 2009.”Mr. McCain asked others on the panels for suggestions about how to “better mobilize American public opinion” behind the notion of comprehensive immigration reform.
And then back to Hawkins for a final thought…
Put very simply: John McCain is a liar. He’s a man without honor, without integrity, who could not have captured the Republican nomination had he run on making comprehensive immigration a top priority of his administration. Quite frankly, this is little different from George Bush, Sr. breaking his “Read my lips, no new taxes pledge,” except that Bush’s father was at least smart enough to wait until he got elected before letting all of his supporters know that he was lying to them.
Honestly, if I were in Hawkins’ position I’d probably be thinking the same thing, especially since I’ve had my own issues with a certain Democratic candidate.
Last thought: I wonder if this will be an isolated incident within the right-wing blogosphere.
(Emphasis mine.)
[Source]
This past week John McCain failed to show up for the important vote on a measure that would increase benefits for veterans — a 21st century update to the G.I. bill — legislation that he opposed in rhetoric but would not officially do so in the congressional record. Today, McCain went further, taking a swing at the legislation, saying that the increased benefits could lower the number of troops serving in the U.S. military.
Sen. John McCain asserted that the G.I. Bill sponsored by Virginia Sen. James Webb will drive soldiers out of the armed services at a time when the country is trying to expand the size of the military.Speaking at a Memorial Day ceremony, McCain praised Webb as “an honorable man who takes his responsibility to veterans very seriously.” And he said the bill, which would increase benefits for veterans after serving one tour, is a way of offering the nation’s “deep appreciation” for the veterans who have served.
But McCain insisted that he takes “a backseat to no one in my affection, respect and devotion to veterans.” And he predicted that Webb’s bill would reduce the military’s retention rate by 16 percent.
McCain is correct that the measure could decrease the retention rate. But he is only telling half of the story, and in doing so is clearly distorting the record. Here Time magazine:
Supporters of Webb and Hagel’s bill dismiss McCain’s concerns about the retention issue. While the Congressional Budget Office estimates that the bill would cause a 16% drop in re-enlistment rates across all four branches of the military, the same study also predicts a 16% uptick in new recruits attracted by the benefit. [emphasis added]
[Source]
McCain will say anything to get elected. Republican Lincoln Chaffee knows it:
Lopate: [McCain’s] gone back on any number of things. Do you think he’s done it because it’s the only way he sees to win, or do you think he’s had a change of heart?Chaffee: I think the former—that he’s just looking at it politically—which is unfortunate from my perspective. I am also surprised that once locking up the nomination he hasn’t tacked toward the middle more. He’s still kowtowing to that rightwing base.
So, there you have it. No complex worldview. No nuanced shifts. Just naked ambition.
John McCain: Empty. Cynical. Hypocritical. Ruthless. Pandering to the extremist right. It’s really not that hard to understand, and really not that hard to recognize, either. In fact, we are all painfully familiar with the type.
After a McCain surrogate took the amazingly reasonable and intelligent position, attributing it to his boss, of opposing telco amnesty “unless there were revealing Congressional hearings and heartfelt repentance from those telephone and internet companies,” the campaign has backtracked substantially. Because, after all, how can he continue Bush’s third term without a big ol’ smooch to the telcos?
[Source]
What harms McCain’s campaign the most?
1. The McBush factor. McCain’s support of the Iraq War will make it impossible for him to break from Bush, the most unpopular president in living memory. The photo/video of McCain hugging and being kissed by Bush will become increasingly embedded in the collective consciousness of the American people as the months roll on.
2. The Republican factor. Yes, McCain is a Republican. He will not be able to deny this fact. Currently, this is not the best party to have behind you in a push to the White House. Witness the recent loss of three traditionally Republican congressional seats and the declining number of Americans willing to identify themselves as Republicans. And then there are the comments of Congressman Tom Davis. “The political atmosphere facing House Republicans this November is the worst since Watergate and is far more toxic than it was in 2006” (NY Times, May 15th, 2008).
3. The Last War Syndrome. McCain and the operatives running his campaign are like generals fighting the last war. They are still convinced that negative advertising will be as successful against Obama as it was against Kerry. However, “The Times They are A-Changin.” And this leads to the next factor.
4. The Change Factor: Hillary tried experience, but this race is about change and the future. McCain appears to be operating a time machine that has only a reverse gear.
The McCain campaign is lying about polls:
The NY Times today quotes a McCain campaign adviser defending the campaign’s performance because even though “the Republican Party brand is very, very badly damaged, … Senator McCain is running even or ahead of Senator Obama in most national polls.”
That is a false statement, which the Times did not correct.
