Arizona Republic Newspaper says McCain has "Volcanic Temper"

Among the available candidates, does John McCain have the best temperamnent to be president of the United States? A newspaper in is home state didn't think so when they wrote the following in an editorial back in 1999:

Arizona Sen. John McCain has staked much of his claim to the presidency on his character: his status as war hero; his service to his country; his commitment to a cause, his country, bigger than himself.

These are legitimate claims to support by McCain, and worthy of voter attention and consideration.

But there are other aspects of McCain's character, less flattering, also worthy of voter attention and consideration....Many Arizonans active in policymaking have been the victim of McCain's volcanic temper and his practice of surrounding himself with aides and allies who regard politics, in the words of his paid Arizona chairman, state House Speaker Jeff Groscost, as a "bloodsport."

...McCain often insults people and flies off the handle....If McCain is truly a serious contender for the presidency, it is time the rest of the nation learned about the John McCain we know in Arizona. There is much there to admire. After all, we have supported McCain in his past runs for office.

But the presidency is different. There is also reason to seriously question whether McCain has the temperament, and the political approach and skills, we want in the next president of the United States. Mother Jones, March 9, 2008.

McCain Voted Against Establishing Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday

"In 1982, [McCain] he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from Arizona's 1st congressional district. After serving two terms there, he was elected to the U.S. Senate from Arizona in 1986. He was re-elected Senator in 1992, 1998, and 2004. " Wikipedia.Org: John McCain.

1983: McCain Voted Against Creating Martin Luther King Holiday. McCain voted against the Hall (D-IN) motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill to designate the third Monday of every January as a federal holiday in honor of the late civil rights leader the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. [Vote 289, HR 3706, Motion agreed to 89-77, D 249-13, 8/2/83; CQ 1983] Raw Story, January 5, 2007.

Rodonline says, citing Raw Story:

There is no better way to celebrate the Martin Luther King holiday than by attending the swearing-in of a Republican governor who belongs to an organization that excludes blacks. Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) did just this in Birmingham, Alabama at the inauguration of Gov. Bob Riley:

"The 'Grand Master' of the Grand Lodge of Alabama admits he knows of no African American members among the groups 30,000 plus membership ... But Riley denied that the Masonic group is racist, as did two leaders of the organization in interviews Friday," the AP reported.

Riley's swearing-in comes on the 22nd anniversary of the first Martin Luther King Day, which McCain initially opposed. The so-called "maverick" Republican explains his flip-flop with the usual non-explanation: "In 1983, when I was brand-new in the Congress, I voted against the recognition of Dr. Martin Luther King. That was a mistake, OK? And later I had the chance to...help fight for...the recognition of Dr. Martin Luther King as a holiday in my state." Rodonline,15 January 2007.

McCain Received $110,000 from Bank Whose Failure Cost US Treasury 2Billion Dollars

How much should it cost to buy the acquiescence of a US Senator in a banking scheme that costs the US Treasury two billion dollars. In John McCain's case, he was warned that a bank with serious financial troubles was seeking exemption from banking rules in order to take even more risks, even though the bank's eventual failure would be paid for by the US taxpayers. But, how could McCain turn his back on his banker friend when "Senator John McCain of Arizona, [] received $110,000 and vacationed with Mr. Keating in the Bahamas four times", according to the New York Times?

According to the New York Times, McCain met with Charles Keating, a "flashy political contributor" from who McCain had received $110,000 in campaign contributions, and then the banking regulators whom McCain supervised reversed course and allowed Mr. Keating to take risks that led to the failure of his bank. Instead of taking action to protect the taxpayers, McCain was caught "intervening with regulators on behalf of Mr. Keating at a time when his Lincoln Savings and Loan Association was on the verge of collapse."

According to the New York Times,

Senator John McCain of Arizona, who received $110,000, and Senator John Glenn of Ohio ($242,000) were deemed guilty only of "poor judgment." It's true that Mr. McCain, who had been Mr. Keating's vacation guest in the Bahamas four times, did nothing for his benefactor after those 1987 meetings. Yet wasn't a Senator also obliged to do something to guard the public against Mr. Keating's increasingly suspicious behavior? New York Times March 1, 1991.

After hearings that held the entire US Senate and the country's attention, the US Senate Ethics Committee found that McCain "exercised poor judgment". The New York Times said,

Today's announcement came after the committee voted unanimously on each Senator, ending a 14-month investigation into whether the lawmakers acted inappropriately in intervening with Federal regulators on behalf of Mr. Keating's Lincoln Savings and Loan Association. Mr. Keating and his associates contributed $1.3 million to the Senators or causes they backed. Lincoln, in Irvine, Calif., was seized by the Government in 1989, a move that is expected to cost taxpayers more than $2 billion. New York Times, February 28, 1991

At the time, John McCain said,

"I'm sure that my political obituary will always have something about the Keating Five in it. I don't see how that could be avoided." New York Times, March 1, 1991

McCain Would be the Oldest Man Ever Elected President

In an article about Senator John Sidney McCain III's past treatments for melanoma (skin cancer), the New York Times points out that no candidate for president who is as old as John McCain has ever been elected to a first term:

Now he is hoping to be the oldest man ever elected to a first term as president. Even if the melanoma returns, he would not be the first sitting president to have had cancer. NYT

Ronald Reagan was an old hag when he was elected president. After the last term of his presidency, Ronald Reagan's family acknowledged that he had Alzheimer's Disease, which may well have contributed to the way he bobbed and shook his head at press conferences during his presidencies.

With advances in human life spans, it would be wrong to count McCain out simply because he's an old horse. Reagan was an old hag and nonetheless was elected and dominated America during his presidencies.

Republican Ex-Senator Bob Dole Says McCain is a Hot-Head

Hat Tip to Agent X for this link.

Is John Sidney McCain, III a "hothead" with a dangerous "temper" than he may not be able to control in a moment of extreme stress?

Former Republican presidential candidate Bob Dole said Wednesday night that current White House hopeful John McCain has a temper — but added the Arizona senator “can control it.”

Dole told CNN’s Larry King that his former Senate colleague “does have a… I guess you could say temper. But I always sort of rationalized that because the poor guy had been locked up” in a tiny cell for six years. But McCain, he said, “can control it. It's not a problem anymore.”

With a top campaign adviser and extreme religious zealots advising McCain to go to war with Iran, one wonders what would stop McCain, in a moment of stress, from starting a first strike nuclear or coventional war with Iran. And once he starts it and can't get his "mission accomplished" moment, what will he do when the war insistently refuses to live up to his expectations?

McCain Retracts "No New Taxes" Pledge After Two Weeks

In the above video, when the interviewer asks John McCain if he's a "read my lips candidate, no new taxes, no matter what," John McCain responds, "No new taxes."

However, he took the pledge back just two weeks later, as Think Progress describes, quoting from and ABC News interview and citing the Wall Street Journal:

Q: On ABC’s “This Week” on Feb. 17, in response to a question, “Are you a ‘read my lips’ candidate, no new taxes?” you replied, “No new taxes.” Did you mean that literally?

McCAIN: I’m not making a “read my lips” statement in that I will not raise taxes. But I’m not saying I can envision a scenario where I would, OK? But I’m not making it a centerpiece in my campaign. Think Progress

McCain is the Wet Dream of Washington Lobbyists

Senator John Sidney McCain, III is the wet dream of Washington lobbyists. Senator McCain's chief political adviser is:

Charles Black, who continues to run his lobbying firm from his seat on the bus that is McCain's "straight talk" exprss. And although Black has previously lobbied McCain on behalf of aviation, broadcasting, and tobacco concerns, he told the Times with a straight face, "Unless [McCain] gives you special treatment or takes legislative action against his own views, I don't think his personal and social relationships matter."Radar Online

Top McCain Ally Held "Slave Auction" as School Fundraiser

Although right-wing religious zealot "Pastor" John Hagee has held a slave auction as a fundraising event for a school, John McCain recently appeared on national television with Hagee to accept the pastor's endorsement in McCain's candidacy for the presidency. The New York Times reported,

After criticism from black leaders and others, a television evangelist apologized today for inviting his parishioners to participate in a "slave auction" to raise money for high school students.

We certainly did not intend to offend anyone and apologize to anyone offended," said the Rev. John Hagee of Cornerstone Church, a nondenominational church.

Mr. Hagee, who is white, wrote last week in a newsletter that "slavery in America is returning to Cornerstone." The students at the private Cornerstone High School were expected to work at the home or business of the highest bidder.

Another source said,

The Rev. John Hagee of Cornerstone Church in San Antonio was attempting to raise funds for seniors at Cornerstone High School for their senior trip.

The uproar about the event prompted Hagee to rename it a 'student auction." In his church bulletin, Hagee had publicized the event by writing that slavery in America is returning to Cornerstone. Make plans to come and go home with a slave." At the church event, students would be auctioned off in front of the congregation and expected to work at the home or business of the highest bidder. BNET via FindArticles.

McCain Financial Scandal Cost US Treasury Two Billion Dollars

A review of New York Times archives from 1990 and 1991 shows that Senator John McCain was a subject of a major financial and bank scandal, known as the "Savings and Loan Scandal", that dominated news coverage of the US Congress during that period.

According to the New York Times, Senator John McCain and four other US Senators, who became known as the "Keating Five" during a Congressional investigation, received over a million dollars in campaign contributions from Charles H. Keating Jr. , the owner of Lincoln Savings and Loan Association of Irvine, Calif, and his associates. Then, John McCain and the other four senators intervened on behalf of the bank to prevent banking regulators from applying Federal laws and regulations meant to assure that Federally-insured banks remain solvent, because otherwise the taxpayers would have to pay the savings banks depositors back if the bank itself became unable to do so.

The intervention of John McCain and four other senators on behalf of a major contributor, leaning on federal regulators to turn a blind eye toward banking irregularities, prevented federal regulators from doing their job and cost taxpayers about two billion dollars in this one case alone. The New York Times says,

A senior savings and loan regulator said today that pressure imposed by an aide to Senator Alan Cranston in May 1988 caused regulators to delay an enforcement action against a huge California savings institution, creating greater losses for taxpayers.

The regulator, William K. Black, testified in the Senate Ethics Committee's hearings into the five Senators' actions on behalf of Charles H. Keating Jr. while he was owner of the savings and loan and a major contributor to their campaigns and to organizations they supported. Mr. Black, general counsel in the Office of Thrift Supervision's western division, was the first witness to tell of enforcement that was delayed because of pressure.

Mr. Black described a meeting of the Federal Home Loan Bank Board on May 5, 1988, in which a decision was made to "freeze the risk profile" of the Lincoln Savings and Loan Association of Irvine, Calif., or limit its high-risk commercial real estate investments. The next day, an aide to Senator Cranston, Democrat of California, called two top officials of the agency and "indicated severe displeasure" with its intention to bring the institution under tighter control, Mr. Black said. Day After the Call

Mr. Black said that the next day, in a move that he attributed largely to that call, the bank board agreed to a number of "modifications" that not only did "not freeze the risk profile, but expressly permitted Lincoln to make new direct investments," particularly expanding such investments. Another result is that Lincoln began investing heavily in high-risk, high-yield corporate debt securities, or junk bonds.

A result of these new investments was to increase the amount of the ultimate losses at the institution, Mr. Black said.

Mr. Black described a meeting of the Federal Home Loan Bank Board on May 5, 1988, in which a decision was made to "freeze the risk profile" of the Lincoln Savings and Loan Association of Irvine, Calif., or limit its high-risk commercial real estate investments. The next day, an aide to Senator Cranston, Democrat of California, called two top officials of the agency and "indicated severe displeasure" with its intention to bring the institution under tighter control, Mr. Black said.

Day After the Call

Mr. Black said that the next day, in a move that he attributed largely to that call, the bank board agreed to a number of "modifications" that not only did "not freeze the risk profile, but expressly permitted Lincoln to make new direct investments," particularly expanding such investments. Another result is that Lincoln began investing heavily in high-risk, high-yield corporate debt securities, or junk bonds.

A result of these new investments was to increase the amount of the ultimate losses at the institution, Mr. Black said. New York Times, December 6, 1990.

On April 2, 1987, Senator John McCain and four other US senators met with the chairman of the board of the Lincoln Savings and Loan Association of Irvine, California, after which an aide to one of the five senators called federal banking regulators and told them to 'lay off' this bank, letting it effectively do as it pleased. Without federal regulation, the bank failed and taxpayers picked up the tab.

Now, Senator John McCain wants to become president of the United States and we have to compare his record for probity to that of his opponents. Although McCain was not convicted of bribe-taking, it seems clear that he take enormous amounts of money from a contributor and then do the contributors bidding in a manner that cost taxpayers billions of dollars in this one case alone. Is that the kind of president we need to elect to clean up the messes of George W. Bush?

McCain Hates Warnings about Body Bags

Another "war president"?''

Colin Powell is the first Chairman since the end of the Vietnam War that doesn't constantly warn us about body bags, a habit that always made me grind my teeth,'' said Senator John McCain, a Republican of Arizona. NYTimes, August 17, 1990.

During his re-election campaign, George W. Bush told the American public,

I'm a war president. I make decisions here in the Oval Office in foreign-policy matters with war on my mind. Again, I wish it wasn't true, but it is true. And the American people need to know they got a president who sees the world the way it is. And I see dangers that exist, and it's important for us to deal with them. MSNBC, February 8, 2004.

Now, John McCain is a man who hates warnings about body bags, while his top advisers tell him that the cost of the Iraq War, in lives and to our Treasury, is about right. And to religious advisers to McCain openly advise him to start a first strike war against Iran. Isn't John McCain just another "war president", regardless of what he says on the campaign trail? And isn't he going to try to convince the American people to elect him, with war on their minds, rather than electing Barack Obama in the hopes of peace?

Hillary Clinton agrees, saying recently with respect to the 2008 presidential race, "This is a wartime election, which Democrats haven't talked enough about in my opinion." MSNBC, March 3, 2008.

John McCain "Lobbied Furiously" Against Women's Equality in the US Military

In 1991, when the US Senate voted 69-30 in favor of a bill to permit women to serve as combat pilots in the US Military, John McCain "lobbied furiously" to kill the measure, according to the New York Times.

Powerful McCain Supporter Pastor Joseph Hagee Urges First-Strike War With Iran

Are the supporters of presidential candidate Senator John McCain really trying to provoke a nuclear war in order to catalyze Armageddon? At 5:10 minutes into this video, John McCain supporter "Pastor" Joseph Hagee says,

Therefore, it is time for America to embrace the words of Senator Joseph Lieberman and consider a military preemptive strike against Iran, to prevent a nuclear Holocaust in Israel and a nuclear holocaust in America.

Meanwhile, John McCain's chief policy adviser, Douglas Holz-Eakin, would likely agree that invading Iran was the logical next step. He said recently,

[T] he current and future budget cost and loss of life and health probably give the right magnitude. If so, the annual war bill represents only about one cent of the $12,000bn of national income each year, and the total military cost at most, a nickel. And that is the right lesson: the foundation of US international influence is its large, powerful economy which can absorb the narrow, resource costs of war and free the US to pursue strategic [WAR, WAR, WAR] and security goals. FinancialTimes.Com (emphasis added).

Is Panama-Born John McCain Eligible for the US Presidency?

It's not obvious that John McCain is eligible for the US presidency, since the Constitution requires that presidents be naturally born US citizens while John McCain was born in Panama. The New York Times says:

Mr. McCain’s likely nomination as the Republican candidate for president and the happenstance of his birth in the Panama Canal Zone in 1936 are reviving a musty debate that has surfaced periodically since the founders first set quill to parchment and declared that only a “natural-born citizen” can hold the nation’s highest office.

Almost since those words were written in 1787 with scant explanation, their precise meaning has been the stuff of confusion, law school review articles, whisper campaigns and civics class debates over whether only those delivered on American soil can be truly natural born. To date, no American to take the presidential oath has had an official birthplace outside the 50 states.

( . . . )

Mr. McCain was born on a military installation in the Canal Zone, where his mother and father, a Navy officer, were stationed. New York Times, February 28, 2008

The McCain solution to this is typical Republican legerdemain (sleight of hand): Wait for a complaint to be filed against the McCain candidacy at the Federal Election Commission (FEC) on Constitutional grounds, secure in knowledge that without a quorum the Commission will be unable to decide the issue before the Election in November, according a top official in McCain's presidential campaign:

If they don't fully staff the FEC, it could take a long time [to resolve a complaint about an arguably unconstitutional candidacy for the presidency.] Douglas Holz-Eakin, "de facto policy director", McCain for President, reported in National Journal, February 29, 2008.

McCain's Top Adviser Says Loss of Life and Financial Costs of Iraq War are "Right Magnitude"

Would John McCain's election result in perpetual war in Iraq and elsewhere? Well, just look at what John McCain's chief adviser has to say about that. John McCain's chief policy adviser is Douglas Holz-Eakin, former director of the Congressional Budget Office, heads the Greenberg Centre for Geoeconomic Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, and here's what he says about the loss of Americans lives and the economic cost of the war:

[T] he current and future budget cost and loss of life and health probably give the right magnitude. If so, the annual war bill represents only about one cent of the $12,000bn of national income each year, and the total military cost at most, a nickel. And that is the right lesson: the foundation of US international influence is its large, powerful economy which can absorb the narrow, resource costs of war and free the US to pursue strategic [WAR, WAR, WAR] and security goals. FinacialTimes.Com (emphasis added)

Read the whole article. With McCain's chief adviser's reasoning, we can expect even more wars like the one in Iraq under a McCain Administration, since the Iraq War continues to be such a great bargain for America, both in terms of loss of life and expense to the US Treasury.

Meanwhile, Mr. Holz Eakin has also announced that John McCain will take a break from campaigning in March, while Holz-Eakin prepares McCain's presidential campaign platform.

McCain to take break, stop saying stupid things in March, advisers say.

After Republican presidential candidate John Sidney McCain, III told reporters on his campaign bus that he would lose the presidency because of his support for the Iraq War ("I lose, I lose") unless he can convince Americans that all is going well there, and after he confessed that "the issue of economics is not something I've understood as well as I should," now McCain's top policy adviser, Douglas Holz-Eakin, announces that McCain will retreat temporarily from the campaign trail in March while his advisers teach him what to say.

However, Mr. Holz-Eagin's policy advice might not prove very helpful in increasing John McCain's popularity, since he has previously written that the "cost and loss of life" in the Iraq war was "the right magnitude," and "the US must stay" in Iraq. In 2006, Holz-Eakin wrote that:

. . . the current and future budget cost and loss of life and health probably give the right magnitude ( . . . ) Politicians agree that the US must stay. ZAWYA.COM

McCain's adviser gives a preview of McCain's rationale for his presidential campaign, saying "There are Republicans in jail, former members of Congress ( . . . ) There is political corruption, and there is absolute criminal corruption." McCain will be the Republican Congressman promoted to the White House to clean up the corruption of his fellow Republican Congressman, like Randy Cunningham, Rep. Mark Foley (R) FL ("how old are you now" e-mails to Congressional interns) and Sen. Larry Craig (soliciting gay sex in train station bathroom). That's a proposal the Republicans can get behind!

Meanwhile, McCain's chief adviser Douglas Holz-Eakin, says it's "premature" to say whether Republican Congressmen will be routed at the polls in November. "Holtz-Eakin suggested that spending restraint and smaller government would remain hallmarks of the campaign, and Republicans around the country were pleased that McCain was leaving behind the GOP's recent legacy of profligacy." NationalJournal.Com