The Whatever-I-Said, I-Sure-As-Hell-Didn't-Mean-It Express rolls on

The Straight Talk Train Wreck

But watching John McCain's poll numbers stay strangely resilient despite the virtual disintegration of his campaign, I feel compelled to share a cautionary tale of my own firsthand experience with the Straight-Talk Express. That hell-bent freight train rolled over me a couple years ago and I haven't felt the same since.
. . .

"If you don't mind my asking," I said, "are you suggesting there are things Senator McCain will say to a British audience that he isn't comfortable saying to the American people?"Needless to say, this didn't help matters. But I wasn't trying to be snide. My question was just the logical extension of what Salter had intimated. But it clearly touched a nerve. He became enraged and, after hanging up, sought to make good on his threat to tarnish my name and career.

this seems like a little much

McCain's ACORN 'theory' planted on rocky soil

Freedom Democrats blog:

I want to point out that the ACORN conspiracy theory (or scapegoating, perhaps) is even broader than these baseless accusations of voter fraud. McCain is even trying to blame ACORN for the fact that Wall-Street bankers failed to manage their risk properly (see the TV commercial)--as if this relatively tiny organization could pressure the banking industry into destroying its own foundations at a time that it was raking in hundreds of billions of dollars in profits each year (FWIW, Greenspan places much/most of the blame on investor demand for mortgage backed securities).

These scumbags will stop at nothing...

Hoax: McCain volunteer admits to fabricating attack story

Ashley Todd, the McCain campaign volunteer who was robbed and allegedly beaten after the assailant spotted a McCain bumper sticker on her car, has admitted to police that she made the whole thing up. KDKA:
Police tell KDKA that a campaign volunteer has now confessed to making up a story that a mugger attacked her and cut the letter B in her face after seeing her McCain bumper sticker. Ashley Todd, 20, of Texas, initially told police that she was robbed at an ATM in Bloomfield and that the suspect became enraged and started beating her after seeing her GOP sticker on her car. Police investigating the alleged attack, however, began to notice some inconsistencies in her story and administered a polygraph test.This story was fishy from the start, and while it's sad that anyone would go to such lengths in order to fabricate a political story, I'm glad the truth has come out. This is probably the only time I'll ever say this, but kudos to Michelle Malkin and the some of the more reasonable right-wingers out there who called foul from the very start. Another interesting facet of the story: John Moody, executive VP of FOX News, is on record saying that, if true, this story could sink Obama. If not, says Moody, McCain is done. We're awaiting your update, John. Jon Perr adds: "Joe the Plumber" has been replaced by "Ashley the Fraud." UPDATE: From Jamie:
MSNBC is now reporting that in a press conference with police Todd said she didn't know how she got the B, but she may have done it herself. They also say she has had mental problems in the past. So far she is being charged with filing a false police report and other charges may still follow.
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McCain Campaign fed the Hoax Racist Assault Story to the media!

Big news just hit the fan for McCain. I knew this was a bogus story when it came out that she refused medical treatment for her wounds. I've been through enough these last few years and know the pain would have been incredible and anyone of us would have begged for a doctor immediately. Well, it looks like the McCain campaign has their fingers all over this phony volunteer attack story and that's big trouble for him.
John McCain's Pennsylvania communications director told reporters in the state an incendiary version of the hoax story about the attack on a McCain volunteer well before the facts of the case were known or established -- and even told reporters outright that the "B" carved into the victim's cheek stood for "Barack," according to multiple sources familiar with the discussions.
John Verrilli, the news director for KDKA in Pittsburgh, told TPM Election Central that McCain's Pennsylvania campaign communications director gave one of his reporters a detailed version of the attack that included a claim that the alleged attacker said, "You're with the McCain campaign? I'm going to teach you a lesson." Verrilli also told TPM that the McCain spokesperson had claimed that the "B" stood for Barack. According to Verrilli, the spokesperson also told KDKA that Sarah Palin had called the victim of the alleged attack, who has since admitted the story was a hoax...read on
This should hurt McCain severely. As FOX's Executive VP, John Moody said:
If the incident turns out to be a hoax, Senator McCain’s quest for the presidency is over, forever linked to race-baiting.
For Pittsburgh, a city that has done so much to shape American history over the centuries, another moment of truth is at hand.
Bozell's operation ran with it and attacked the media. "Obama Supporter Maims McCain Volunteer, Will Media Care?"Now I ask the question. Since McCain's camp was involved in trying to promote this race baiting attack story against Obama, will the media care? Let's hope so.
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He'll whip that one's you-know-what

COMMUNIST COUNTRY, Va. (AP) -- Republican John McCain vowed Sunday to "whip" Democratic rival Barack Obama's "you-know-what" when the two presidential candidates meet Wednesday in their final televised debate.

McCain made that pledge as top advisers said he is weighing new economic proposals to help the nation weather the financial crisis. The Arizona senator refused to answer a reporter's question Sunday about what plans he might be considering.

Debate This

he's also the taller monkey - a lot taller

I think people really are missing the point about McCain's failure to look at Obama. McCain was afraid of Obama. It was really clear--look at how much McCain blinked in the first half hour. I study monkey behavior--low ranking monkeys don't look at high ranking monkeys. In a physical, instinctive sense, Obama owned McCain tonight and I think the instant polling reflects that.

McCain's strangest statements of the night: Alexander the Great, Ike's letters (what the phokk was that?), South Koreans are taller than North Koreans (really, has he lost his mind?)...

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liberal media descends to name-calling

Now they're saying McCain is unhinged.

"It is arguable that, because of his inexperience, Obama is not ready for the presidency. It is arguable that McCain, because of his boiling moralism and bottomless reservoir of certitudes, is not suited to the presidency. Unreadiness can be corrected, although perhaps at great cost, by experience. Can a dismaying temperament be fixed?"

Then again, what would you expect from...



Oh... never mind...

Sam Donaldson: "Go on -- call me an 'ageist' or some s#i+." George Will: "McCain: unhinged."

I'm not sure NBC could get away with this amount of liberal hectoring...

Issue #1: Would you be less inclinded to vote for Barrack Hussein Obama if you knew that he has an illegitimate white baby?

McCain Sells His Soul: Hires Man Who Sunk His 2000 Campaign
By: Bill W. @ 11:00 AM - PDT

John McCain has claimed that he believes “there is a special place in hell” for Tucker Eskew and the others who were behind the push-poll that implanted the idea in S.C. voters’ minds in 2000 that he had fathered an illegitimate black child, but that sure didn’t stop him from hiring Eskew to help prepare Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.

Jake Tapper: McCain Hires GOP Operative Who Helped Smear Him in South Carolina in 2000
Former officials of Sen. John McCain’s 2000 campaign expressed shock and disbelief Monday to learn than the GOP presidential nominee had hired South Carolina political consultant Tucker Eskew.
Eskew, along with Warren Tompkins and Neal Rhodes, were key members of then-Gov. George W. Bush’s South Carolina team during the 2000 primaries. McCain and his team long held Bush, Tompkins, Rhodes and Eskew responsible for the various smears against McCain and his family in the Palmetto state during that contentious contest. […]
Asked if the McCain campaign would have a comment about hiring one of the South Carolina strategists the senator and his 2000 campaign team once held responsible for smears against him, McCain 2008 spokesman Brian Rogers emailed, “No.”

This shouldn’t come as much of a surprise after McCain hired Rove’s protegé two months ago and began running the negative campaign he pledged not to. There’s apparently no depth of depravity that McCain won’t stoop to and no issue he won’t flip-flop on in an attempt to win this election.

The Ozzie Guillen of Capitol Hill

Romney Blasts McCain's Out of Control Temper

Romney's top 10 list includes some of McCain's greatest hits - literally. In addition to dropping the f-bomb on fellow Republican Senators Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and John Cornyn (R-TX), McCain "repeatedly" called New Mexico's Pete Domenici an "a**hole." While the Romney list features some comparatively minor McCain blow-ups towards Dick Cheney, Mitch McConnell and other leading lights of the GOP, it also claims that in 1995, John McCain "had a scuffle" with then 92-year old Strom Thurmond.

i guess big media censored this one, too

http://view.break.com/542113 - Watch more free videos

Watch him squirm!

Media laughs as McCain stumbles on serious women’s health question

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ruh-roh

Can we infer that Phil "YOOOOOGE steaming pile of S#i+" Gramm was on the receiving end of one of McCrazy's famous crazy outbursts of crazy™?

Later asked if Gramm would have a role in a McCain administration, McCain raised the possibility of what could be seen as a less-than-desirable job. "I think Senator Gramm would be in serious consideration for ambassador to Belarus although I'm not sure the citizens of Minsk would welcome that."

John McCain's FULL@S#i+ Tour Across America (cont'd)

McCain pressed on opposition to Webb GI bill

There’s a reason your response was met with zero applause, Senator.

McCain Fails to Come Clean on Katrina Record

Rodriguez: Senator, my understanding is you have voted twice against the creation of commission to investigate the levee failures around New Orleans, and my question is: Why have you voted against that creation of that commission?
McCain: I’ve supported every investigation and ways of finding out what caused the tragedy. I’ve been here to New Orleans. I’ve met with people on the ground. I’ve met with the Governor. I’m not familiar with exactly what you said but I’ve been as active as anybody in efforts to restore the city. …

Despite his claims otherwise, the reporter was correct, and McCain’s record on Katrina is not at all what he would have you believe.

-- McCain Voted Twice Against Establishing A Commission To Study The Response To Hurricane Katrina. [ 9/14/2005, 2/2/2006]
-- McCain Opposed Granting Financial Relief To Those Affected By Hurricane Katrina. [9/15/2005]
-- McCain Voted Against Five Months of Medicaid For Hurricane Katrina Victims. [11/3/2005]
-- McCain Voted Against Emergency Funding Bill, Including $28 Billion for Hurricane Relief. [5/4/2006]

McCain Caught Off-Guard About Campaign’s Lobbyist Problems

Wallace: Let me ask you one last question. David Axelrod said you talked in your speech today about changing the way Washington does business, but your campaign is run by two of the biggest lobbyists in Washington. How do you respond to that?
McCain (stuttering): “Uh, I di.., look, uh, the, the, those, they are not lobbyists, but th.. the fact is Americans care about my vision and plan of action for the future,”… blah blah bs, blah … ‘Obama is a liberal’ blah…

Wallace didn’t press any further (of course) on who this “they” is, but it was a lie in any case clearly worthy of a few Pinocchios.

Really, John McCain can barely go five minutes w/o a flip-flop

Or is it that he's so old he can't remember anything before 5 minutes ago?

And this one includes a half-pander to Ellen Degeneres:

Ellen DeGeneres Confronts McCain On Gay Marriage

McCain said, “I think that people should be able to enter into legal agreements and it’s something that we should encourage, particularly in the case of insurance and other areas and decisions that have to be made. I just believe in the unique status of marriage between a man and a woman and I know that we have a respectful disagreement on that issue.”
....
The problem is that McCain himself not only supported an amendment to the Arizona Constitution in 2006 that would have banned any “legal agreements” including “insurance” for domestic partners, but he cut advertisements for the measure (which failed). He also told prominent campaign supporter the late Jerry Falwell–who blamed 9/11 on gays and lesbians, among others–that if state constitutional measures such as this one were struck down by the courts, he would then support a federal gay-marriage ban.

*Gasp* Say it ain’t so! Could this be another McCain flip-flop LIE????

take dat, HATERS (cont'd)

McCain believes Iraq war can be won by 2013

Sounds good - what's a couple more trillion dollars we don't have? Hasn't stopped us so far...

A History of Pandering

This doesn't include the last 3 weeks, so add at least another half dozen...

The master of his flip-flopping domain

Here’s the updated list:
* McCain pledged in February 2008 that he would not, under any circumstances, raise taxes. Specifically, McCain was asked if he is a “‘read my lips’ candidate, no new taxes, no matter what?” referring to George H.W. Bush’s 1988 pledge. “No new taxes,” McCain responded. Two weeks later, McCain said, “I’m not making a ‘read my lips’ statement, in that I will not raise taxes.”
* McCain claims to have considered and not considered joining John Kerry’s Democratic ticket in 2004.
* In 1998, he championed raising cigarette taxes to fund programs to cut underage smoking, insisting that it would prevent illnesses and provide resources for public health programs. Now, McCain opposes a $0.61-per-pack tax increase, won’t commit to supporting a regulation bill he’s co-sponsoring, and has hired Philip Morris’ former lobbyist as his senior campaign adviser.
* McCain’s first mortgage plan was premised on the notion that homeowners facing foreclosure shouldn’t be “rewarded” for acting “irresponsibly.” His second mortgage plan took largely the opposite position.
* McCain vowed, if elected, to balance the federal budget by the end of his first term. Soon after, he decided he would no longer even try to reach that goal.
* McCain’s campaign unveiled a Social Security policy that the senator would implement if elected, which did not include a Bush-like privatization scheme. In March 2008, McCain denounced his own campaign’s policy.
* In February 2008, McCain reversed course on prohibiting waterboarding.
* In November 2007, McCain reversed his previous position on a long-term presence for U.S. troops in Iraq, arguing that the “nature of the society in Iraq” and the “religious aspects” of the country make it inevitable that the United States “eventually withdraws.” Two months later, McCain reversed back, saying he’s prepared to leave U.S. troops in Iraq for 100 years.
* McCain used to champion the Law of the Sea convention, even volunteering to testify on the treaty’s behalf before a Senate committee. Now he opposes it.
* McCain was a co-sponsor of the DREAM Act, which would grant legal status to illegal immigrants’ kids who graduate from high school. Now he’s against it.
* On immigration policy in general, McCain announced in February 2008 that he would vote against his own legislation.
* In 2006, McCain sponsored legislation to require grassroots lobbying coalitions to reveal their financial donors. In 2007, after receiving “feedback” on the proposal, McCain told far-right activist groups that he opposes his own measure.
* McCain said before the war in Iraq, “We will win this conflict. We will win it easily.” Four years later, McCain said he knew all along that the war in Iraq war was “probably going to be long and hard and tough.”
* McCain said he was the “greatest critic” of Rumsfeld’s failed Iraq policy. In December 2003, McCain praised the same strategy as “a mission accomplished.” In March 2004, he said, “I’m confident we’re on the right course.” In December 2005, he said, “Overall, I think a year from now, we will have made a fair amount of progress if we stay the course.”
* McCain went from saying he would not support repeal of Roe v. Wade to saying the exact opposite.
* McCain went from saying gay marriage should be allowed, to saying gay marriage shouldn’t be allowed.
* McCain criticized TV preacher Jerry Falwell as “an agent of intolerance” in 2002, but then decided to cozy up to the man who said Americans “deserved” the 9/11 attacks.
* McCain used to oppose Bush’s tax cuts for the very wealthy, but he reversed course in February.
* On a related note, he said 2005 that he opposed the tax cuts because they were “too tilted to the wealthy.” By 2007, he denied ever having said this, and insisted he opposed the cuts because of increased government spending.
* In 2000, McCain accused Texas businessmen Sam and Charles Wyly of being corrupt, spending “dirty money” to help finance Bush’s presidential campaign. McCain not only filed a complaint against the Wylys for allegedly violating campaign finance law, he also lashed out at them publicly. In April, McCain reached out to the Wylys for support.
* McCain supported a major campaign-finance reform measure that bore his name. In June 2007, he abandoned his own legislation.
* McCain opposed a holiday to honor Martin Luther King, Jr., before he supported it.
* McCain was against presidential candidates campaigning at Bob Jones University before he was for it.
* McCain was anti-ethanol. Now he’s pro-ethanol.
* McCain was both for and against state promotion of the Confederate flag.
* McCain decided in 2000 that he didn’t want anything to do with former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, believing he “would taint the image of the ‘Straight Talk Express.’” Kissinger is now the Honorary Co-Chair for his presidential campaign in New York.

And:

McCain in DNC Ad: I think we’re better off overall.
Viera: So, Senator, you do not believe we’re better off by any means than we were eight years ago?
McCain: Oh, no. No.