Arianna Huffington has offered a wonderful smackdown on the media’s golden boy John McCain. She’s accusing him, of all things, of being a huge liar who misrepresents his positions on just about every issue he’s confronted with.
It’s time to now ask: Why has the “left-wing media” offered such a stunning pass on this man’s shortcomings?
Posted by Mike Matthews in Political Landscape
I don’t know, Mike, your newest cub has a thing for McCain and has glibbed-over his short-comings on this blog lately in grand fashion. Stunning.
I agree on all counts. Huffington gets my wager. She is one hot mama–smart, on target, and deadly. And, good question–why has no one dug deep into McCain’s “issues?” Just tracking his stated POV over the past 5-10 years would be instructive. Yes-no-maybe-no-well-yes… It is mind-boggling. I think that his POW victimhood has possibly given him a cover. Do not get me wrong. I respect some things about McCain immensely. But, enough already.
Wow. Nancy overstating things. Again. Who saw that coming? I simply said I admire the man and would rather see someone with his experience in the oval office than someone with Obama’s ridiculously thin resume. Stunning, I know.
Be careful, Jen, seeing good in anyone but Obama is sacrilege on this site and respecting any republican is a mortal sin.
I used to love Arianna until she turned her site into the Obamington Post. Now it’s nothing but articles either attacking Clinton, making excuses for Obama or fawning over his godliness. She has lost all credibility.
Dom: Wouldn’t Huffington get your vote for a “weak” woman? After all, her “claim to fame” is that she married a guy with a fat wallet. Cased closed.
Jeez. I wish I had married a man with a fat wallet. What I respect about McCain is his past–his war record of service in Vietnam–his ultimate sacrifice as a prisoner of war. That is real and that is meaningful. I do not respect him now. He is just another Republiocan shill. He used to look like he had integrity. Now he just looks like he has ambition, at almost any cost.
A fat wallet and a big secret.
Jen - Please name one presidential candidate who doesn’t have ambition, at almost any cost. Including Obama. Any junior senator who assumes he’s ready to run the show has ambition that makes Donald Trump look like a slacker. It’s the equivalent of a middle-management drone (albeit a well-spoken, inspirational middle-management drone) applying for the job of CEO.
I still contend that Rove did something deep and scary to McCain in SC last time around. Rove accomplished what Charlie could not.
He crushed his soul and turned him into some kind of crazy republican zombie hell bent on cutting taxes on billionares and bombing random countries to prove how kick-ass ‘Merica is.
Hube can speak to what a living hell McCain has been living in since Bush.
Hillary Clinton is a junior senator….
So was Kennedy… so was Kerry… so was LBJ… so was Truman…
So was Edwards for all but two years of his Senate career…
Ariana on Democracy Now gave the full scoop on McMad! I believe every word she said especially since it was backed up by others. All those of you who think John McMad is the best republican out there, who respect his service, wait just wait until the book comes out about him. It will not be a “kerry swiftboating” no sireee these guys were actually in the prison camp where he was held POW. He has been a womanizer most of his life, raised on War, three generations of it…do you think he has “peace” on his mind.
If you think this man should be president I ask you to account for his quick temper, his filthy mouth even on the Senate floor telling his colleagues to “shut the f**k up”. To think he could have the button to push for nuclear war is mind boggling at the least. His preacher Hagee surely gets a pass from corporate media..I ask all you catholics even thinking of supporting him…Hagee says the Catholic Church is a great whore”, Hagee views gays as the reason for Katrina…these people are lunatics, filled with hatred. He will bomb, bomb bomb Iran, a country whose population are young and pro democracy, thats all we need for Clinton or McMad to be elected an bomb that country to hell…the blowback to America will be unimaginable.
Are you not aware the world is pushing for Obama! They see him as a “great hope for America”, they know what they will get with Clinton or McMad. Since Bush has destroyed every bit of credibilty in the world…shouldnt the views of other countries have some impact on how we should be voting…we are all in this sinking worldwide boat.
J Lyman -
You’re right. Obama has just as much experience as all of those people. Probably even more. I’ll bet none of them know a thing about community organizing. They probably all came from completely chaotic communities.
He’s awesome!
Dominique,
I knew you were pretending with all that Hillary Clinton stuff. You got me.
Oh, sorry. It’s just that you said a junior senator couldn’t, so I assumed you meant a junior senator couldn;t.
Oh, sorry. It’s just that you said a junior senator couldn’t, so I assumed you meant a junior senator couldn’t
You’re right, Mat. I should have been more specific. I should have said “a junior senator who had barely spent a year on the job before he started campaigning for president”.
You were right. I was wrong. He has just as much experience as Kerry and JFK and Edwards and Clinton and McCain and, hell, anyone who has ever run for president. Ever. Plus he, like, gives great speeches and stuff. He is immensely qualified for the job. I feel GREAT about the way everything has turned out. He can change everything. I believe in him. And unicorns.
His preacher Hagee??? Whoa. I have not been following McCain and have been totally turned off by the length and drag of this endless national campaign “era”–it has long since gone well beyond “season.” I am much more involved right now in local politics. McCain’s preacher is Hagee? Holy shit. This is the rapture dude with the TV show? The chubby white guy filling the airwaves with ideas that make my hair stand on end and my skin crawl? OMG! THis is disturbing. Are there any normal Republicans left on the national scene?
Domi,
Even in jest, doesn’t that feel better? Lay down your burden sister.
So you are not going to get the “girl power” themed teaparty you’ve been dreaming about and the Helen Reddy LP’s will have to go back down in the basement for a few more years, but think about the big picture…
Five months ago, Hillary had a 20-plus point lead in Democratic polling, the greatest name recognition of any candidate, the most money, support from a popular former Democratic president who was actively campaigning for her, nostalgia for the Clinton era of “peace and prosperity,” a ton of endorsements, the aura of “inevitability” — and she squandered it all with an inexorable series of misjudgments,
Doesn’t that tell you something?
As for me I’m glad we have a Democratic nominee that does not have a 54 percent unfavorable rating and who 58 percent of voters say is “not honest and trustworthy.”
I neglected to mention that the quote is from Alternet’s Guy Saperstein
Jason -
If “girl” was replaced by “black”, “tea” replaced by “crunkjuice” and “Helen Reddy” replaced by “Jay Z”, your head would explode.
Sexism is just as repulsive as racism.
I guess my snark gave you and out to ignore the main point of the comment.
Oh well. My advice to you, little lady, is to not worry your pretty little head of all this stuff. The men will sort it out.
Your candidate has benefitted from the same media blinders that handed GWB the presidency. Stop kidding yourself - he is no more honest or trustworthy than the rest of them.
It is not my opinion that 58% of voters think Hillary Clinton is not trustworthy. It is a fact.
Ciao Domi. Let me know if you decide to put down your burden. We could be pals.
For one thing, Mrs. Marshall, Barack Obama is half black and half white and a highly educated person as his record attests.
So no, you can’t replace girl with black.
And I don’t know what crunkjuice is but it sure smells like you have a horrid bias against people of color, a classist ignorance at best.
But you are looking more ignorant and racist the more you open your trap.
If I had to guess, I’d say that Obama is more comfortable with Miles Davis on the boombox than an artist like Jay Z.
Your true stripes are out now. UNREAL.
I expect you to try to come back and slam me for not realizing that you were ‘just making a hyopothetical comparison to show Jason what a slimeball you think he is for his joke”.
What he said was in jest, what you said in response was ugly and unnecessary and if that is how you want to portray yourself, it’s not surprising many folks around here.
Nancy, are you insane? I’m serious. Have you completely taken leave of your senses?
It’s not always about Obama, you mindless twit. Sometimes it’s just about sexism vs. racism and the fact that both are equally repulsive. I believe I even spelled that out. Thanks, once again, for proving my point with your little head explosion, though. Too bad you don’t see fit to defend your gender as passionately as you defend Barack Obama. Perhaps a team of psychologists can help you explore the reason for that.
BTW, boombox? I think Obama would probably be more inclined to have an iPod. Or do you think black people can’t afford iPods? You’re such an ignorant racist.
See, two can play your stupid game. How does it feel to be on the receiving end of that sort of nonsense?
You have decided, for whatever reason, that you have a bug up your ass where I’m concerned. That’s fine. I’m not here to make friends, certainly not half-crocked crazy ones - I have enough of those. I will tell you this, you have crossed the line a few times with me in terms of accusing me of being a racist and in terms of my relationship with my son, which you know absolutely nothing about. Both lines of attack are completely inexcusable and vile. Ironically, it does more to harm you than me when you let your emotions do the thinking instead of your brain. It doesn’t really surprise me, though. That’s the sort of tactic one can expect from someone who lacks the armor to engage in a battle of wits.
He has just as much experience as Kerry and JFK and Edwards and Clinton and McCain and, hell, anyone who has ever run for president.
Let’s look at experience, shall we? I mean, if you’re going to pull out all the Clinton talking points, we may as well go into the same old debate.
Here’s a generally accepted ranking of presidencies by historians, with the sum of the candidates’ experience between VP, Gov, Congress, Cabinet, State Leg and military generals. We’ll add in being First Lady, giving Obama 10 years and Clinton 16.
Lincoln: 10
FDR: 6
George Washington: 24.5
Thomas Jefferson: 13.25
TR: 4.5
Woodrow Wilson: 2
Harry Truman: 10.25
Andrew Jackson: 12.5
Dwight Eisenhower: 11
James Polk: 16
John Adams: 8
—-
JFK: 14
Madison: 20
Johnson: 27
Monroe: 10.25
Cleveland: 2
Reagan: 8
McKinley: 16
J.Q. Adams: 13.25
Taft: 7
Clinton: 12
—-
Bush Jr.: 6
Martin Van Buren: 22.25
Hayes: 10
Bush Sr.: 12
Arthur: 1.5
Hoover: 7.5
Ford: 25.75
Carter: 8
Harrison: 6
Coolidge: 10.5
Nixon: 14
—-
Garfield: 23
Taylor: 10
Tyler: 11.5
Fillmore: 11.25
U.S. Grant: 7
Harrison: 7.75
Johnson: 16.75
Pierce: 11
Buchanan: 30.25
Harding: 10.25
That includes state offices. The correlation is nonexistant. Hell, the scatter plot (here) of the above information shows very little, if any.
Back to the drawing board, Dom. Sorry.
Come to think of it, the scatter plot actually shows more of a bias in the low experience, great president corner.
Great, J. That’s a very impressive list that means absolutely nothing to me. Back out Obama’s years as a state legislator. They don’t matter to me. Nor does the experience level of Lincoln or JFK or any other president (although I wonder how many of them jumped from state senator to president without even being governor for a bit). What matters to me is that I see a candidate who is probably a bit naive about the way Washington (and maybe even the world) works and his ability to change it. I don’t feel confident that he would be a good president. It’s a gut feeling. Again, maybe I’m wrong, but that’s what I think and no list of statistics is going to change that.
that’s what I think and no list of statistics is going to change that.
Therein lies the problem. The most empirical evidence I can offer — anybody can offer — and you don’t accept it because of a gut feeling. This is why I don’t take the Clinton-McCain talking points seriously.
