McCain: Is He Addled And Confused Or A Dishonorable Man?
It is becoming increasingly clear that it is really one or the other; either John McCain is addled and confused in the face of trying to keep up with all that he must as a candidate for the most powerful position in the world, or he is a dishonorable cad that will blithely pass out confidential information and place important people’s lives in danger to serve his own vain powerlust.
The last time there was an insinuation made that McCain was confused and couldn’t keep things straight, there was much consternation and soiling of undergarments by the McCain camp and across the board covering of his butt by the mainstream media. (See here and here). But these are not occasional incidents with McCain. Sunni or Shia? Sudan or Somalia? He is for immigration reform or against it? Does Czechoslovakia still exist or not (Um, no Senator, it ceased existence over 15 years ago, and you’ve been there since then more than once). And then there is this painful example of cognitive dysfunction.
Yesterday John McCain went all in with his chips of mental incompetence. From Reuters:
Republican presidential candidate John McCain commented on Friday on the unannounced timing of a high-security trip by Barack Obama to Iraq, saying he believed his Democratic rival was going this weekend.
…
"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 said at a Republican fund-raiser.
John McCain must have a far different definition of "high security" and "Senatorial courtesy" than has been known and understood throughout the history of this country. Apparently McCain not only doesn’t care about Obama’s safety, but has a similar disregard for the health and well being for the other fellow Congressional members with Obama on the trip, their staffers and the secret service personnel that have to protect all of them. As Teddy Partridge noted, this isn’t quite on the level of outing a covert CIA spy, but it is sure in the ballpark. For a comparison, consider how when Bush travels to Iraq they often don’t even tell the press, much less publicize the specific dates he will be going; pretty much the same for even lesser Bush Administration officials. McCain’s trips are kept secret as to most details for security reasons.
So just exactly how did McCain come to know the day schedule of Obama’s trip anyway? All that had been discussed prior to McCain’s shameful leak was that Obama would be traveling in the Middle East and might go to Iraq and Afghanistan. Who was foolish enough to tell McCain in the first place? Bush or Cheney? Administration underlings? Brown nosing members of McCain’s base, the press corps? Karl Rove?
We know that George Bush, Dick Cheney and their Administration consider the Presidency to be nothing more than their own personal permanent campaign tool, their own officials admit that. We also know that Bush and his Administration political bagmen and henchmen have been abusing their governmental power and privilege to affect the presidential election by leaning on the German Chancellor Angela Merkel to deny Obama his previously planned appearance and speech in front of the Brandenberg Gate.
So, is the Bush Administration using their power of office to play more political mischief and endanger Obama and his traveling companions? It should be noted that, in addition to the political advantage to McCain that they are desperate for, the Bush Administration has other reasons for wanting to squelch Obama’s trip to Iraq. It turns out that Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki agrees wholeheartedly with Obama’s proposed 16 month troop withdrawal timeline and is effectively endorsing Obama in the process. That is not a slap in the face to Bush and McCain, the permanent warmongers, it is a bash in the head with a Louisville Slugger.
Irrespective of McCain’s motivation for callously leaking the details of Obama’s trip into the war zone, or the leaking source of his information, it was a foolish, ignorant and pathetically selfish act. Is McCain such an addled septuagenarian that he can’t help but make these fundamental errors? Does McCain not have the mental faculties remaining after all these years to keep even the most basic things straight? Perhaps he is just no longer up to the task.
Because it is either that or he is such a dishonorable vindictive cad that he did this intentionally. Which one is it Senator McCain, the citizens of this country deserve an answer once and for all. Either way, he is patently unfit for the job he is applying for, President of the United States.
UPDATE: – From Marc Armbinder at The Atlantic, further evidence of just how catastrophic Nuri al-Maliki’s crystal clear adoption of Obama’s 16 month withdrawal timeline, and concurrent ratification of Obama’s military and foreign policy bonafides, really is.
This could be one of those unexpected events that forever changes the way the world perceives an issue. Iraq’s Prime Minister agrees with Obama, and there’s no wiggle room or fudge factor. This puts John McCain in an extremely precarious spot: what’s left to argue? to argue against Maliki would be to predicate that Iraqi sovereignty at this point means nothing. Obviously, our national interests aren’t equivalent to Iraq’s, but… Malik isn’t listening to the generals on the ground…but the "hasn’t been to Iraq" line doesn’t work here.
So how will the McCain campaign respond?
Boy, no kidding, how will McCain, that juggernaut of serious security and foreign policy experience and action, respond? Well, we don’t know yet, but Armbinder does provide a quote from a well known Republican strategist and part time McCain advisor:
"We’re fucked."
Indeed. This sure could explain why McCain would be compelled to abandon (and McCain is a professional at abandoning all pretext of honor; just consider his abandonment of his critically injured first wife after she had spent years waiting for him while he was injured and captive in Vietnam) any remnant of honor and duty that he had left in his tired and old body.
The only thing McCain has ever had, as weak as it is, is his bleating false claim to superiority on Iraq and foreign policy. That was a concept that was frail and hanging by a thread to start with. A thread that has now been incinerated completely by Nuri al-Maliki. Just the kind of thing that would cause an angry and addled dishonorable man to lash out. This is the Real McCain. The John McCain that Native Arizonans have seen since the moment he plopped his carpetbag down here. The John McCain that cares more about himself than anything else in the world; and he will do anything and say anything to advance that interest including, clearly, jeopardizing other people’s lives.
Thank you for your great posts and comments here. Reading the intelligent conversation about genuinely important issues here is a tonic.
Hey, I don’t recall seeing your name before, WELCOME!
damn, I’ve been waiting for this all day! (okay well maybe it was just a couple of hours).
Now I’ve forgotten what I was gonna say.
The clip ends: “We clocked that pause at 8 seconds”. I’m trying to remember if I have ever paused that long in any public setting. Not a chance.
Look at his body language, It’s obvious he’s closing the door to that discussion. I just can’t put the finger on what is really happening, he looks confused, lost… On the other hand, I’m wondering if he wasn’t THAT close to blowing a fuse, and those eight seconds are only a time out to make sure he doesn’t go nuclear on that reporter who had the gall to question him about the woman’s place in a Viagra world…
On a different note, I was watching Pelosi filibustering NN yesterday morning. It was obvious she wanted nothing to do with the questions she was being asked, and I felt she was that close to losing it. Pelosi looks more and more like McCain, old, tired, dépassé.
How did McSame know about Obama’s itinerary???
Maybe some inquiring reporter will ask?
…. and then I woke up….
Ummmm…both!
Sluggo McSame is showing the effects of what happens when he doesn’t get all of his nap time; hissy fits on top of advancing senility.
Can you imagine this WATB being woken up at 3 AM in the Lincoln bedroom and asked to make a crucial foreign policy/national security decision?
Need a reminder? “Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran!”
I was going to say “both” too, but you beat me to it.
Agreed. Those are not mutually exclusive possibilities.
It doesn’t matter how Mr. McCain found out the details of his Senatorial colleague’s secret trip to Iraq. He spilled the beans. It doesn’t matter why. Mr. McCain knows it means when you spill the beans. What would have happened had he or a shipmate told a waitress or prostitute about his next wartime mission? It would have jeopardized his mission and lives of his Naval aviator colleagues. Even the son of a current CinCPac would have been out.
The same risks apply here. The difference is that Mr. McCains’ current colleagues wear suits, not khaki uniforms.
Iraq is an active war zone. Mr. McCain has even been there, surrounded by hundreds of heavily armed troops in the air and on the ground, whose job it was to keep him safe — as a visiting Senator. He knows the likely increased danger were he to visit as the leading candidate to take over the government of the government that has occupied Iraq for five years.
I expect that by Monday morning, we’ll hear about the FBI interviewing Mr. McCain and his aides about who put the lives of his Senate colleagues in jeopardy. One more reason to keep Reckless John out of the White House, even as a visitor.
It would matter how he found out about the trip if the DOJ actually prosecuted security breaches in the name of politics.
I’ve pointed this out more than once — when it comes to John McCain, vindictive thug is not too strong a characterization. McCain married into the mob, and I’m not kidding about that. His father-in-law Jim Hensley worked for Kemper Marley, and both Hensley and his brother did federal time.
I know the story very well; I have to tell you, the “Hensleys are mobbed up” storyline is wildly overblown. The convictions were effectively for skimming liquor around taxes and duties. Not exactly an uncommon practice, in fact, you could likely find at least a little of that at any liquor distributorship in the country at the time. Certainly they were no saints, far from it, but they were not exactly hardened mobsters. Marley is a lot closer to that mark, but even he was not necessarily all that he has been made out to be. And, at one time, I was very close to this whole overall mess, at least a big part of it.
Hmmmm?
IMHO, they seem to think it’s their own private slush fund, bank account, corporate cookie jar, and super-duper-black-ops fund.
OT — But I just saw that Prof Lawrence Lessig was the Sat keynote speaker at NRN. Wow!!! I’d strongly encourage EW readers unfamiliar with him to check it out.
When lederman makes comments like these you really have to pay attention
http://balkin.blogspot.com/200…..g-you.html
Marty comments on Mayer’s book and points directly to the coup to circumvent the constitution
I think J. Sidney is showing some early signs of dementia. Having dealt with both relatives and friends whose afflictions varied between Alzheimer’s and dementia, the early signs are eerily similar. When he ran back in 2000, J. Sid was sharp and quick in his rejoinders, and actually seemed to understand what was going on around him. Not so much any more.
I keep wondering if the extreme stress of modern campaigning is not agravating the situation. The whole birth control question thing is a perfect example. Add that likely situation to his normal personality as a mean-spirited frat boy asshole, and you get the Obama event. For me, the interesting question is what happens if the increasing stress accelerates the process (assuming that’s what’s happening in the first place)? Reagan didn’t start showing signs of his Alzheimer’s until he was elected (Nancy: “Tell them we’re doing everything we can!” Ronnie: “We’re doing everything we can!”).
What happens if a major party candidate starts the downhill spiral during the campaign? Could be an interesting autumn…
Heh, I don’t know either, but you are right about the signs. And all this has to be tacked onto the fact that he has always been intellectually mediocre to slow to start with.
So the set-up is: How do you tell if a Republican is insane?
The number of punchlines boggles…
But, bmaz, the war zones are so much safer now, thanks to The Success of The Surge – revealing CODEL movements isn’t a problem anymore.
I’m still betting McCain won’t make it to the St Paul convention. Romney is getting lots of press play; I think the GOPs are really worried that McCain is tanking. Even his “base” can’t keep this lead blimp afloat.
Great post!
Oh you’re a cheap date, I mention your name in a post and suddenly you love it! Heh heh
** bats eyelashes **
Did you mention me in the post??
If McCain illegitimately found out about Obama’s travel plans, whomever leaked ought to be in trouble. In that regard, Sen. McCain or someone on his staff ought to be in trouble only if he or they conspired to violate the law or acted in breach of the protocols that apply to their security clearances.
More important regarding Sen. McCain’s judgment is that he publicized the info. He hears top secret info all the time and keeps his trap shut. He’s been doing that since he attended the Academy. So why divulge this fact, this time? And what is the Senate — as well as the FBI — going to do about it? They’re well aware that even al Qaeda watches TV and uses the Internet.
And just for giggles, had Sen. Feingold or Rep. Waxman made public the President’s secret plans for travel to Iraq or Afghanistan, how many FBI agents would be working on that leak and unauthorized disclosure about now? One, two hundred? How many Sunday pundits would be all over them? What would Karl be doing?
The relevant law may be somewhat different, but the stakes and the faulty process and judgment would seem identical. So where’re the legs on this story?
Not just intrigue but comedy also in the Reuters piece. Heres my own favorite:
“McCain’s campaign spokeswoman Brooke Buchanan insisted to reporters later: “He doesn’t know when he’s going. He’s not privy to that information. He was speaking in broader terms, about when Obama does land in Iraq.” “
Meaning the McCampaign actually PREFERS this message:
Okay now settle down- Look youre gonna have to cut us a little slack here. You all know especially the ones at the quarterly hot tub functions that this is one very very old unit we have on our hands here- & it suffered a whole whack of trauma in that bad vehicle crash in its 20s & didn’t exactly get the quality of care that al-Zubaydah got if you catch my drift. Plus its not as if you folks are unaware to put it mildly of the decades of blood thinners- truth be known not just to keep you folks happy but don’t forget all those senators who set him up in the biz back in the 70s & that bunch of souses over at the American Enterprise Institute lounge- to say nothing of all those hard livin cowbpoke developers & banker types & media hogs & assorted entrepreneurs shall we say- its like those SOBs spend every waking hour fueling up- and then there’s all the training he’s had to go through on his own just to keep up the pace.
So here’s our bobblehead points: He’s old- hes been hearing voices for a while- he was probably high or on one of his moments the last anyone said anything to him about this Obama world tour- & jeez you all know what a bullshitter he is in the first place.
Anyway the “opponent” claims hes got some nifty moves so lets see if he can dance around this one.
Now if you’ll excuse me I have to find some aides to help the Senator back into his pants & back up to his room for a little nap.”
So in electing Sen. McCain, we would be electing another Vice President to run the country, and a President who will dodder around throwing out baseballs, making offensive jokes, and generally ruining things even when he does what his VP tells him to?
Deadeye may decide to stay on and Sluggo McSame would likely acquiesce.
A different sock puppet to be sure; one that is wornout and with toes sticking out of holes, but yet oh so pliable.
McCain – Cheney 08. I can just see the bumper stickers now. And I can picture the immense, coast-to-coast pile-up that would be.
But seriously, what’s a better way to say “4 more years of the same cr*p”? I’m ordering one today! Hell, I’ll order dozens!
Hard to imagine McSenile’s team would accept the least popular public official in America as his Number Two and possible successor. But I’m sure Deadeye will make a very compelling argument. One McSenile, with his much undisclosed past, can’t refuse.
There’s also a great video where he calls Vladimir Putin the “president of Germany” … he says it plainly and clearly and without Holy Joe by his side, he doesn’t correct himself … just keeps blathering away.
And he repeatedly says that he doesn’t know how he voted, and that he’ll have to “check to see what his policy is”.
That is what drives me the most nuts. Why on earth would he need to check his voting record to determine how he stands on an issue? That is an admission (loud and clear) that he hasn’t a clue on the given issue. He forgot armed robbery was illegal.
Just Posted As An Update:
From Marc Armbinder at The Atlantic, further evidence of just how catastrophic Nuri al-Maliki’s crystal clear adoption of Obama’s 16 month withdrawal timeline, and concurrent ratification of Obama’s military and foreign policy bonafides, really is.
Boy, no kidding, how will the McCain, that juggernaut of serious security and foreign policy experience and action, respond? Well, we don’t know yet, but Armbinder does provide a quote from a well known Republican strategist and part time McCain advisor:
Indeed. This sure could explain why McCain would be compelled to abandon (and McCain is a professional at abandoning all pretext of honor; just consider his abandonment of his critically injured first wife after she had spent years waiting for him while he was injured and captive in Vietnam) any remnant of honor and duty that he had left in his tired and old body. The only thing McCain has ever had, as weak as it is, is his bleating false claim to superiority on Iraq and foreign policy. That was a concept that was frail and hanging by a thread to start with. A thread that has now been incinerated completely by Nuri al-Maliki. Just the kind of thing that would cause an angry and addled dishonorable man to lash out. This is the Real McCain. The John McCain that Native Arizonans have seen since the moment he plopped his carpetbag down here. The John McCain that cares more about himself than anything else in the world; and he will do anything and say anything to advance that interest including, clearly, jeopardizing other people’s lives.
This is a powerful story. It highlights Obama’s courage. My gut reaction to McCain’s addled and contemptuous betrayal of Obama’s security is a crystalline clarity that despite my deep reservations arising of FISA there truly is only one choice come November. McCain deserves profound public disgrace in these circumstances against all his objections of service and sacrifice. He needs to be utterly shamed from public life. It may be the most corrupt public political gesture of my lifetime.
So I should have been tougher on him?? Heh heh!
So how many of us think Obama will capitalize on this one?
Yeah, I hope Obama can step up and wield this like a sledge hammer.
You know I tuned him out months ago because I realized he was capable of saying anything that suited him at any given moment. It was obvious that this was his la-dee-da mode of operation. But I never imagined him literally publically targeting his opposition’s security.
I don’t think I would underestimate these Psychopaths.They’re capable of anything.
In confessions of an economic hit man Perkins talks about the effectiveness of the jackels’ capabilities.All of the tactics used against other countries to establish sympathetic regimes and manipulate power structures can be turned inward.Obama could be just another accident statistic and it would be impossible to prove otherwise.
All those nameless and faceless people that pull the strings are not going to watch their world disintigrate.I think obama sould be very careful.He should just give em all the rope they need and they will do the rest
My guess is that Obama himself doesn’t touch it.
I agree with this. He might offer a passing acknowledgment but I think it is up to others to hammer.
We really need a pool for folks to
wagervote when Sluggo McSame self-implodes. Choice selections could include:1. Before the Convention.
2. At the Convention.
3. After the Convention.
4. Election Day.
5. Daily.
6. Hourly.
7. Minutely.
8. All of the above.
McCain will implode at the first debate.
If I was a betting person (& I am), I could clean up on that wager.
Obama will verbally tie him in knots, & St. John will lose it.
MSM will have a hard time ignoring/excusing an on-camera melt down, although not for lack of trying.
I’ve heard from a generally-unreliable source that the GOP doesn’t use superdelegates, only pledged … so if they’re going to toss McSame, they have to do it outside of their convention, because the delegates are committed.
I think they’d prefer doing it before, but the mechanics are so much better after: he’d withdraw as candidate, the VP candidate would take over as presidential candidate, and they’d pull a new VP from the bottom of their barrel.
There is no top of their barrel any more.
That’s kind of the point, there.
Somehow this just isn’t sledgehammer enough for me:
Everybody harshes on Bill Clinton, but he would be jamming this stuff up McCain’s ass.
Yup! Bill does indignation really well.
He does politics really well. Unlike Lee Hamilton and Reidless, he’s not afraid to fight or to call Rovian crap what it is.
But wait, it gets better:
I think the White House was just trying to show that McCain isn’t the only one who is addled and confused.
Dazed and Confused.
This is somewhat OT, but interesting:
http://www.roadstoiraq.com/200…..for-obama/
Jul 14, 2008
Maliki’s Arabic word and waiting for ObamaI have some time today before going to Syria tonight, to write about the Arabic term used by Maliki to describe the withdraw of the American forces. aljarida’s analysis of the word he used “Al Gala’a”.
A reminder of the British troops evacuation from Iraq [although the term never used in Iraq].
What the newspaper did not said is the following:
The same word is used decades ago by the pan-Arabists independence movements to describe the evacuation of foreign armies from Arab countries. Egypt still celebrates [Eid Al Gala’a] the evacuation of the English troops on 18 June every year and Syria also celebrates [Eid Al Gala’a] on 14 April where the French troops evacuated from the country.
Sources told the newspaper about the reason behind Maliki’s change of position from pushing the public to accept the SOFA agreement, to rejecting the agreement, which is the U.S. politics and Obama’s “sure” victory in the U.S. presidential election.
the newspaper reported this:
It is a step before Obama’s arrival to the White House, surprised even the Iraqi political blocs.
I think Maliki’s bargain is to make a “better” security deal with Obama in the future.
Whatever Maliki may say, and however the campaign camps may spin it, the prospects of a fairly quick withdrawal of US troops from Iraq are not cheery. Everyone who wants to call the invasion and occupation a victory, and all Members of Congress who are concerned about being accused of accepting and facilitating defeat, will want to keep military aid on a large scale flowing to Iraq for a long time to come. There is likely to be insurmountable resistance in Congress and in the White House to any plan that would hand over weapons and other materiel, money, and intelligence without having a significant US military presence in Iraq to protect the investments from misappropriation or capture. And there are issues of resettlement, restitution, and rebuilding.
Grim as the outlook is in any case, Obama as President is the less unsuited choice between the major party candidates. We should not, however, let anyone’s glowing prospects report snow us.
so maybe I ain’t so crazy when I talk about winning all 23 Senate seats, huh ???
who would vote for a candidate from a party that nominated this putz ???
gordon smith is bragging about how he has worked with Obama in the past …
but then you look at john mcsame, and maybe the repuglitard isn’t the best choice …
gonna help in the House races too
what’s the largest margin any party ever held ???
kkkarl rove is gonna help us set a new record
being a negative campaigning, mean spirited, backstabbing, low down shit flinger, only works if you have a reputation for confidence
mcsame is quickly becoming known as an incompetent shit heel
and history remembers stuff like that …
Hey, bmaz, you know the way one interception can fuck up your whole playoff game?
Well, one cheap (true, but irrelevant) shot against McCain can fuck up your whole point.
And, no, I won’t give you three tries to “guess” it. You know what the cheap shot was and it was beneath you.
Actually I have no idea. If you are talking about McCain’s abandonment of his critically injured first wife, Carol, no, I do not think it is irrelevant. The discussion point is about a man that is so self serving and without honor that he would sell out the safety of a fellow Senator and candidate, then evidence that he would walk out on an incapacitated wife and at risk children, his own family, is most certainly material and relevant to his pattern and practice of dishonorable conduct. If there is anything “cheap” here, it is John McCain’s morals and ethics. You may find it uncomfortable, I do too, but it is without question germane to his character trait of lack of honor.
If there’s a cheap shot on this thread, it is the notion that only John McCain gets to pick and choose what’s worthy of comment about his past. McCain’s divorce from his first wife was abominable, even by GOP country club standards, a club whose locker room is full of retreads and trophy wives. Ronald and Nancy Reagan thought so and told him so, expletives undeleted.
I can understand why McCain wanted a different momma. He’d lost his manhood in Vietnam. He was a warrior held in captivity for five and a half years. He was physically and psychologically abused and degraded much of that time. He wanted his manhood back. He married a model, dreamt about her and his other conquests to keep himself sane while in prison, and came back to a cripple. He was also hittin’ forty. With his personality, the odds are he’d have divorced her for a younger model anyway. But the way in which he left his first wife was particularly brutal.
The calculation and judgment that led him to that behavior — he’d already lined up Cindy and her money beforehand — is still with him. It’s apparent in every flip he flops over Iraq, the economy, government-funded contraception, the claim that lobbyists (who comprise his campaign staff) don’t influence him. Even his five crashes. He’ll do anything to get what he wants: damn the consequences, full steam ahead.
John McCain’s are not the hands that should hold the wheel in a storm, or at any time if there’s a difference between what’s good for his ship and its crew and what’s good for him.
Very true. And just how true is that? Here is an illustration. And this has been confirmed for me for years by friends that know them a lot better than I. When the McCain family goes out in Phoenix, heck anywhere, McCain is not allowed to drive, Cindy does the driving. Been that way for a very long time. Even Laura lets George drive that stupid truck around; McCain not so much. When my wife won’t let me drive because she doesn’t trust my mental judgment, but I am still physically capable of doing so, you can just shoot me and put me out of my misery. McCain is pathetic.
Amusing anecdote. Most Naval aviators would rather hang up their wings than let someone else take the stick. Says a lot about McCain’s willingness to submit to higher authority — a definitional attribute for a neocon authoritarian — and his penchant for Faustian bargains. Says a lot about Cindy’s judgment, too, except for that thing about having chosen John Boy in the first place. She’s not shy about correcting course, despite the broken rudder she refuses to change out. But that’s no reason for us to use the same bent rudder.
I’ll bet you refuse to ask for directions, too.
Right up there with the class with which Gingrich divorced his first wife.
Exactly; but Clinton was, you know, unacceptable. Hypocritical retards.
Huh?!
Where’ve I been?
klynn @61, well spoken.
Mr Why – agree that Obama will leave this one to surrogates. And I hope they make this one glow in the dark, because it’s toxic.
MadDogs @31. I’ll take #3 (”After the convention”).
As for McSame’s divorce from Wife #1, the relevant point is that he avoided caregiving responsibilities and hung out with the crowd LabDancer describes, which confined him to only one narrow, hyper-masculine slice of American life. It’s a narrow, outdated, militarized perspective. That life experience hasn’t opened him up to the range of problems, and the linkages between them, that the next President needs to address.
when frank rich says this about you:
well …
that ain’t good
I got 5 bucks that says mcsame takes the position that custer didn’t lose, and how could we argue, mcsame was alive when it happened …
mcsame is a slow learner
who says doug fieth is the stupidest man on the face of the planet ???
I think mcsame is up to challenge him for the title …
Frank Rich has been pounding the extreme stupidity and disingenuousness of McCain every Sunday and today is no exception.
Why would Obama share anything with any Repub including Bush or Cheney? The leak could well have come from the Secret Not So Secret Service because they gossip like everyone else.
Republicans being Republicans don’t give a flying fuck about anyone’s safety except their own immediate families and close friends. I’ve not seen any indication I can remember that any one of them ever gave a damn about national security or had the first clue about how to secure it.
This administration has been exhibit “A” for “homeland whatever the fuck that term adapted from a great period in 19th century Norwegian literature by some of the dumbest Americans on the planet means.
Let me give you an insight. If someone is using the word “homeland” as in homeland security they don’t know the first fucking thing about security and they either have or will get a lot of people dead. Chertoff is a prime example of this; Rice and Cheney are other examples.
Cheney, Bush and the other chickenshits who leaked Plame didn’t give a fuck about Plame or the scores of people who worked with her, and McCain is no different. It’s never about the country, it’s all about their “borderline personality” warped ideas of what is best for them.
BTW Jean Mayer’s book raises some interesting questions as does Scott Horton’s questions for her in his article and mp3 discussion linked here.
Jean Mayer will be on C-Span Book TV at 10PM Eastern time Sunday night discussing her book for over an hour.
And then there was McCain’s “senior moment” about what he thought about contraceptives. No, not that one, the one way back in March.
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: “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.”
Remember when the NYT Travel & Leisure section were traitors for publicizing Rummy’s birdhouse?
Just pulled the Sun. LA Times dead tree copy off the end of the driveway. They had quite a while last evening to switch headers/stories around & they’re still going w/their original version above the Page One fold (accompanied by large pic):
Iraqi President Embraces
Obama’s Withdrawal Plan
A junior minister up here pulled a similar stunt this past January. She sent out an email to reporters complaining in partisan fashion about a trip to Afghanistan that the opposition leader and one of his caucus had just begun, in which email she revealed their itinerary ahead of time (which included Kandahar). Much outrage ensued and many calls were made for her dismissal; nothing happened. Cons: so many of them seem to have that MO.
There are survivors who survive ordeals based on noble character. There are survivors who survive because they “like to keep fighting no matter the cost, just the win, the ‘beat em,’” gaming kind of attitude. I’ve seen people survive great ordeals while displaying one of the above attitudes of survival. The first comes back to normality and continues a life of noble choices and charity, humble and a better person for surviving the unthinkable. The latter keeps fighting for what they want, not really giving a damn for anyone else. For me, John McC is the lesser example.
One that note. The klynn family went to a central Ohio bookstore yesterday, (the largest book retailer in central, Ohio. They have the largest amount of sales; thus, they even have their own best sellers list along with the NYT’s.) Anyway, the store was having a huge book sale. All these McCain bios were in the $3.00 clearance bin. Obama’s, The Audacity Of Hope, was beautifully displayed on the NYT’s best seller and the local best seller display. Watched as a hand full of people bought the Obama book. People tossed aside the McCain bios in the clearance bin to find the books sitting beneath them.
Came home and the phone rang. A Repug think tank research group called to due a survey on the Repugs and McCain. Answered the call and said, “Let’s just not waste time for you or me…You could not pay me enough money to support McCain or any repugs at this point. The party stands for the total disregard for our Constitution and has displayed the poorest of stewardship of tax dollars in my living history, if not in the history of our country. I think it is their party plan to weaken the country to a point that make us vulnerable to everything which threatens our security, especially political systems outside of democracy such as fascism, communism and totalitarian rule. The Repugs are not the party of democracy. Not the party of Constitutional honor and protection. No honor of public servanthood to be found in the platform of the party. Does that help you?”
A soft and sad, “Yes,” responded.
“Have you been getting similar responses?”
“Yes. But your response just made me want to quit my job.”
Heh heh
Thought you would like that story. Sorry for the typos. Our four-year-old was with me watching me type and asking many questions…
Have a question for you bmaz. It’s OT. With regard to Gore’s appearance yesterday and his plan he has revealed. I’ve been crunching numbers from the Taxation Foundation (total number of tax payers/total number of wealthy tax filers who pay 0 in tax). Do you think a check box on tax forms to donate a dollar (or your own designated amount) would work to fund sustainable, non-fossil fuel change? Similar to the public funding of campaigns box?
I had suggested to start a non governmental organization and start working with those states that are willing to put great effort forth now, since the federal government is bought out by big oil. But a check box on tax forms just might show DC how serious people are about this change. In addition to our power infrastructure changing to sustainable, I want to see funding of new alternative transportation as well as EPA approved engine conversion kits for existing cars (like the water4fuel conversion kit that can quadruple your gas mileage on any gas engine). It is important to make those kits affordable and accessible as we transition away from petro based car tansportation. New alternative fuel cars are not affordble for all and our country could not handle such a large “dump” of carbon fueled cars in a short time table.
Just thinking out loud here. I think We the People have the will and the desire to move forward ASAP on sustainability and non-petro dependence. SO I am trying to figure out how we move forward without Washington, and get the job done. California is more than ready to act independent of government energy policy. Other states are as well.
Just putting some ideas out there for grassroots dialogue and action potential.
BTW, Thanks earlofhuntingdon!
Somebody suggested something like this several years ago, may have been Barney Frank. A series of 5 or 6 big things and let the people allocate a big pot of money to them according to their wishes by designation on tax filings. I like it.
Did you know the federal government has a non-profit fund people can donate to to pay down the national debt? I won’t pay a cent to it until efforts are made to balance the budget…
Although a box check on my tax form might make me willing…
How do you make a contribution to reduce the debt?
Although, it has been stated, I think by the Concord Coalition, that if you make a donation, do not claim it on your deductions, otherwise the government loses 30 cents on every dollar donated.
As you say, donating to reduce the national debt would be money down a rat hole until Bush, Cheney and McBush no longer have their hands on the government credit card.
Yes, jolly good! And if each and every one of us so donates $31,000, we can wipe that sucker out!
I honestly think the over riding theme for Obama should be stewardship. The last eight years have been nothing but waste…Of our tax dollars and human resources…
Great story, Buckeye.
Here I sit, with a printout of your response at hand, waiting hopefully for the phone to ring…
Here is some fodder for Marcy: William Mercer’s charmed life at Justice
Danny Pate, USA, in the lead group for the stage win!
And he gets a third. Excellent ride for the Australian Simon Garrans.
Have the movers and shakers in the Republican Party chosen McCain to ensure that their loss is overwhelming, so that their Base will feel sorry for them and come home to poppa?
Hard to imagine any other reason. But let’s hold off judgment until all the facts are in. Let’s see who gets the nod for Veep. If it’s McCheney, then we’ll know the answer is, “Yes”. I don’t really think it’ll be McCheney, but McSame follows Bush so closely in everything else he does, it wouldn’t surprise me that he’d want to be in bed with the same cell mate. I wonder who would get the top bunk?
Ya know, if we can keep his Obama gaffe in the news it could make a big difference. That’s simple, something everybody can understand, and McBush simply can’t deny that he knew or should have know it risked the lives of everybody on that junket, not just Obama.
It’ll call his judgement into question in his so-called “base” as well as the vital middle. The military types who’ve flocked around him will be LIVID. I doubt they’ll be calling for his head publically, as they would Obama’s if the rolls were reversed but it’ll cost him some support and perhaps keep a chunk of GOP voters at home.
McBush is running pro-Iraq war ads in Ohio. They’re pretty hard hitting to anyone who might be in DOUBT about Iraq, but they’re not going to change the other 95%’s mind one way or another.
Boxturtle (I’m betting he detonates at the first debate)
Hey bmaz, was there not some compromise legislation past recently that would allow for an investigation into “threats” against US interests and allow for a broad sweep of telecom and email towards such an investigation perhaps leading us to the source of the leak made by McC?
This seems like a threat to me…Hmmm…
Interesting discussion on CNN’s Freed Zacharia GPS of international war crimes prosecution of Basheer in Sudan. On now here has to be replayed later too I assume.
I was just thinking about McCain and the “rape comment flap” that blew next week.
It was Texas GOP Governor candidate and oilman Clayton “Claytie” Williams who uttered “As long as it’s inevitable, you might as well lie back and enjoy it” in 1990. That, along with several other glaring gaffes cost him what was going to be a sail into office.
Claytie was to replace GOP stalwart Bill Clements, who was a client of Karl Rove. Clements was elected to the office twice – both times in campaigns run by Rove. Clements lost re-election the first time due to the SMU Mustangs football scandal. You see, Clements, while serving as the chair of SMU’s trustees, authorized payments to the student football athletes from a booster “slush fund.” Any coincedence that Clements (remember, a Rove client) had access to a slush fund. Anyhoo, the NCAA sanctioned SMU and threw them out of play for TWO YEARS. It cost the school huge credibility, it cost Clements his job, and is the biggest NCAA scandal, ever.
But back to Claytie. Claytie up until very recently was a $300,000 campaign bundler for John McCain. Once the whole rape thing surfaced, McCain’s campaign tried to delete all connections to Claytie.
Of course, a little rape humor won’t get in the way of the Bush family’s affection for Claytie:
Like Claytie, I guess McCain was just bein’ “colorful.”
Re; my way early a.m. post on the previous thread regarding LA Times front page coverage of Maliki/Obama story. Via TPM:
Nice Try
Out of here. Bye.
On this thread.
Still bye 4 now.
Your much awaited new post for the day (hey, there might even be two today, EW step aside I am on afterburners!) will be along in 45-60 minutes.
highlight from a sf chronicle report on the conservatives’ counter conference in austin:
A Friday session called “New Media and the Conservative Movement” sounded like a digital 12-step program, with the participants admitting that they were behind the online curve and were ready for help. The few dozen in attendance…debated how and why to adopt new online tools. One suggested holding your nose and checking out the Web site of the liberal MoveOn.org just to see how it’s organized.
heh.
All reflective of the genius that decided to take on NetRoots on the same weekend in the same city. Fucking brilliant. What could possibly go wrong with a a few dozen nimrods admitting they don’t know jack being compared and contrasted with NRN and thousands of people being led by Al Gore? But they are serious….
and did we know novakula was going to be their guest speaker on friday? man, we should’ve airlifted marcy in early and stationed her at the corner starbucks.
soclose…
I saw the session of Gore+Pelosi answering questions. Gore provided an enthusiastic endorsement of Pelosi which made me wonder what he knows that I don’t know.
And then Pelosi, on the question of holding this administration responsible for its high crimes and misdemeanors, said that the answer was to write more and better legislation!!! No mention of Constitutional remedies!!! How can our top leadership be so misguided???
Bob in HI
Actung! New Post!
President Haney Loads Up And Fixes To Move Back to Hooterville
Johnny McTeleprompter sucks. The End.