The Insanity of John McCain on Meet the Press - A YouTube Video

Hat Tips to Calitejano and Firedoglake.

When you see how incoherent John McCain is in the above Meet the Press interview, you realize that:

1. Interviews are far more useful than debates in showing how the candidate thinks (and fails to think);
2. John McCain cannot explain his decision to nominate Sarah Palin, because it is inexplicable in terms of the traditional purposes of selecting a running mate, and the polls are showing that most people agree.
3. If a man as incoherent as John McCain becomes the leader of the free world (or God forbid he has an aneurism and Sarah Palin takes control), America would be in for a biblical-sized time of self-immolation and implosion, even bigger than the Bush economic meltdown America is now suffering.
   

John McCain Voted With Bush 90% of the Time

In John McCain's own words

John McCain Boycotts Family Reunions with the Black McCains of Slavery

In the United States, we are so used to assuming that there is a solid line between white and Black people that we are surprised to learn that there are Blacks in the American South who are direct descendants of the descendants of John McCain who is now running for president. Eve though we know that whites owned Black slaves and that white men sired children with Black slave women, yet there remains a deep denial and fear of acknowledging the obvious fact that many whites alive now have Black relatives whom they need to acknowledge and invite to their family reunions. The fact that they are Black is no reason to ignore them, because "blood is thicker than skin color."

And yet, although John McCain's brother Joe goes to family reunions with his Black relatives who are McCain's, the Republican presidential nominee boycotts these reunions, having no apparent interest in meeting with those of his relatives whose skin is brown. This says something very bitter and shameful about the character of John Sydney McCain. Watch the videos below for more documentary information:

The New Republic Doubts the "Maverick" McCain "Ever Existed"

1972 Maverick,
a Rust Bucket Bottom of the Line Piece of Crap

McCain says he's a "maverick" and that's why he should be president of the United States. But, what is a "maverick", anyway?" It's a 1957 television series about the Wild West. But, 1957 is fifty years ago, and Americans like me, who are not yet retired, may well feel the need for a serious politics for our country based solidly in the 21st Century, rather than a politics co-opted from a 51 years old Hollywood script about cowboys and Indians.

A lot has changed since 1957, like the Internet, color television, DVD's space flight . . . John Sydney McCain says he's a "maverick", and that's why we should elect him president. But, what does being a "maverick" have to do with being the leader of the free globalized and nuclear-tipped world? John McCain may be trying to recapture his youth, but he's about half a century too old and too late to play the Maverick he remembers from the 1950's.

We still need pioneers in the sciences, but let's face it: McCain's no pioneer in politics; he's a derivative from Republican cookie factory, mass produced and "branded" just like the old Ford Maverick of which he constantly reminds us.

Maverick is also the name of a very basic car that Ford offered from 1969 to 1978, from the time he John McCain was 31 years old until he was thirty nine years old, thus, the nostalgia.

Is that all "maverick" means? Merriam Websters Dictionary, offers a definition that may get to the heart of John McCain's adolescence:

Main Entry: ¹mav·er·ick

Pronunciation: \ˈmav-rik, ˈma-və-\

Function: noun

Etymology: Samuel A. Maverick †1870 American pioneer who did not brand his calves

Date: 1867

1: an unbranded range animal ; especially : a motherless calf

2: an independent individual who does not go along with a group or party

So, the first "maverick", Samuel A. Maverick, was a bit of an anarchist, refusing to participate in the system that had been established for knowing whose cows were whose, while undoubtedly shooting someone if he believed they had usurped one of his cows by accident or on purpose. That hardly seems like a model for the complex world in which we live.

One definition of "maverick" is "unbranded range animal"and John McCain's campaign of late certainly seems unbranded as well as un-house-trained. That hardly seems like a model for a complex society in which the failures of one economy to act respsonsibly have caused an international meltdown, and now require intense diplomacy to put the interconnected system back together again.

The other definition of a "maverick" is "independent individual who does not go along with a group or party". In 1992, we were inclined to believe this image, even though McCain had gone along with other US Senators in the Savings and Loan payoff scandal that cost the US Treasury Billions of dollars to resolve, just like the current mess only on a smaller scale.

But now, after seen George W. Bush reach historic lows in his public approval ratings while John McCain has voted with Bush 90% of the time, McCain even in the most recent debate found it impossible to name any significant instances where he had broken with meaningfully with his party. He opposed torture, but the torture continued under his party. He urged that the war in Iraq be expanded for as many as a hundred years and voilá! The war continues unabated.

He urged that health care be deregulated and that individual states be forbidden by federal law from implementing any consumer protections that the US Congress would not approve. In this way, our medical care could benefit from the same unbridled competition and speculation that has led to an international meltdown of the banking and insurance system, to be followed by a bailout of the very same insurance companies - the most irresponsible bad actors - that got us into the mess in the first place.

If John McCain had ever been a conscientious "maverick" with a different moral compass than Republicans like George W. Bush, then McCain wouldn't have been photographed having a birthday party for himself, holding a cake with Bush, during the very day that New Orleans was inundated with water.

The editors of the New Republic online magazine have endorsed Barack Obama but, equally importantly, have pointed out some essential truths about John McCain, "the maverick": above all, that he never really existed. Recent history has shown that the "maverick" personality was always more hype than hope.

If the John McCain of 2001 or 2002 were running, this might be a far closer call. At that time, this magazine considered McCain a truly great political figure. During the 2000 primaries, we endorsed Al Gore and John McCain, an unorthodox step for us. Better than anyone in Washington, McCain made the case against creeping income inequality and political corruption. Oftentimes, we found ourselves wishing that his Democratic counterparts spoke with such clarity. Indeed, a cover story we ran urged him to switch parties. We didn't expect that he would listen, but we didn't expect that he would transform himself into a Sean Hannity conservative, either. And we certainly failed to appreciate how his impulsiveness could lead him to such spectacularly bad decisions (Sarah Palin) and such a spectacularly incoherent campaign. The implosion of the old McCain, if he ever truly existed as we imagined, saddens us, not least because the candidate he's become is so poorly suited to the challenges of the moment.

So, there are two fundamental problems with John McCain's Maverick schtick for 2008:

1) The intervening years since his first presidential run have proven that he never was a maverick, just an impostor of 1950's movie characters and relic automobiles, and

2) Mavericks (be they unbranded cows, elderly actors or long-discontinued car models, are irrelevant to the complex problems of governance that our economy and our nation faces in the 21st Century.

Lies McCain Told in the Last Debate

Hat Tip to Agent X.

Author: McCain Called Wife Cunt, Trollop

Author: McCain Called Wife Cunt, Trollop

In his book The Real McCain, author Cliff Schecter claims that John McCain made extremely ugly remarks about his wife Cindy McCain during a tirade witnessed by three reporters and two aides. "At one point, Cindy playfully twirled McCain's hair and said, 'You're getting a little thin up there,'" Schechter writes. "McCain's face reddened, and he responded, 'At least I don't plaster on the makeup like a trollop, you cunt.' McCain's excuse was that it had been a long day. If elected president of the United States, McCain would have many long days." Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Here's Your Candidate, Whoever You Are

Here's the caption from Reuters, via Americablog.com:

Wed Oct 15, 11:15 PM ET

US Republican presidential nominee Senator John McCain (R-AZ) reacts to almost heading the wrong way off the stage after shaking hands with Democratic presidential nominee Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) at the conclusion of the final presidential debate at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York, October 15, 2008. REUTERS/Jim Bourg (UNITED STATES) US PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION CAMPAIGN 2008

(USA)

In Nationally Televised Debate, McCain Lies About Qualifications of "Joe the Plumber" Some Two Dozen Times

Today, John McCain accuses ACORN (voter registration and poor people's organization) of being involved in historic vote fraud. But, not long ago, as this YouTube video shows, McCain was a special guest at an ACORN-sponsored rally in southern Florida. Hat Tip to Eddie G. Griffin (BASG).

Yesterday, in the last of the debates between Barack Obama and John McCain, McCain brought up one "Joe the Plumber" (Joe Wurzelbacher ) some two dozen times, using him as an example of hard-working American small businessman. Only, it turns out that "Joe the Plumber" is not a plumber, and he's not even a licensened plumber's helper. In possible contravention of Ohio state or local laws, Joe the Plumber performs plumbing work without ever having been formally trained to do so at all.

The point is not that he shouldn't perform plumbing work (that's for the local authorities to decide), but rather that John McCain should get his facts straight before he makes an obscure and unlicensed laborer into the centerpiece of his argument for his presidential campaign, while exaggerating Joe's professional qualifications to the American people.

We cannot help but remember when George W. Bush and his cronies filled the airwaves with false claims about Iraq, evidently caring little that they were easily disproven. The problem isn' that John McCain doesn't know the truth. The problem is that John McCain doesn't care about the truth.

ACORN at Rally with John McCain

Source: http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/10/a_lifetime_ago_sen_john.php

John McCain Hearts "Joe the Plumber" in Last Night's Last Presidential Debate

In last nights presidential debate, Barack Obama was the winner hands down. He was steady, personable, expressed deep and credible concern for the middle class, and talked knowledgeably about his focus on the economy. (See C-Span video.)

John McCain was scattered and attempted to rely on a conceit: "Joe the Plumber". To understand what McCain was talking about, you have to understand the back story: Recently, while Obama was walking through a middle class neighborhood and knocking on doors, a man accosted him and insisted that Obama intended to raise his taxes (while implicity John McCain would not). The video of this encounter is making the rounds of YouTube and the television networks.

John McCain might have hoped to rattle Obama by mentioning "Joe the Plumber" (he didn't), but then McCain returned to the "Joe the Plumber" storyline more than half a dozen times at different times during the debate, as if the phrase had some magical quality that would convince voters of McCain's sincerity or of his contention that Obama might raise taxes.

McCain made some very important concessions. He conceded that the Federal Budget had exploded over the last eight years, but he insisted he and his pal George W. Bush were not responsible for it. Meanwhile, McCain also insisted that if Obama 'wanted to run against George W. Bush, he should have run four years ago.' Once again, McCain effectively conceded that the Bush years are a disaster and McCain's only political hope is to try to disassociate himself from them, as Gore tried to disassociate himself from Clinton in 2000. As Geraldine Ferraro attempted unsuccessfully to disassociate herself from her husband's shady tax returns in 1984.

Meanwhile, normal Americans are feeling the hurt. Although the Social Security Administration announced today an abnormally large increase of 5.8% in 50 million Americans retirement incomes,

"Right now many senior citizens are feeling depressed because things seem out of control. They feel like they are in a boat being whipped around by rough seas," said Sung Won Sohn, an economics professor at the Smith School of Business at California State University. "Their purchasing power has been going down because of higher prices for food and energy and a lot of other things while their savings have taken a hit because of what is happening in the markets." Yahoo News

In last night's debate, Obama, without specifically mentioning George W.Bush, reminded voters several times in several contexts that the last eight years' economic policies have not worked, and voters can see this plainly, grimly with their own eyes, in their own finances. McCain, in response, rattled off a list of ways in which he had been independent from Bush, like torture (old news and irrelevant to the current crisis); Iraq (a war that McCain supported and continues to support, and which is similarly irrelevant to the current economic crisis, except as one of the obsessions that has distracted the Republicans from the US economy), and so on and so forth.

By asserting incredibly that the has been independent in other ways, but without mentioning the economy, McCain effectively conceded that he has been a Bush lackey on what now matters most.

John McCain began his response to a question by mentioning offhandedly and irrelevantly that he had attended a professional sports game last weekend (probably in a battleground state), and Obama interjected crisply, "Congratulations!" The economy is in full meltdown mode, and John McCain spends his afternoon at a football game. So, now we know McCain's priorities. Unlike McCain, America thinks it's important that we resolve the meltdown in our economy, not play games.

Did I mention "Joe the Plumber"?

McCain Would Tax Employment Based Medical Benefits

Once again, in tonight's debate, Senator John McCain repeated his determination to tax the medical insurance provided to American workers by their employers. He says his goal is to discourage "Cadillac care," and yet his plan would tax the provision of ALL employer provided medical care, including the good, the bad, and the ugly.

This is undeniably a new tax on health care services that would affect American workers including the poor and the rich.

In a related health care matter, John McCain says he would forbid abortion that are necessary to save the life of the mother.

If we look closely, we can see a certain perverted logic in John McCain's neo-conservative thinking: By taxing health care benefits and making it harder for Americans to see doctors, John McCain hopes to reduce the number of abortions in which doctors participate. See the logic? If there were no doctors, nurses and hospitals, then there would be no abortions. And that is the foremost public policy goal of one of John McCain's key constituencies.

Can John McCain Kick Barack Obama's Ass in Tonight's Debate?

Recently, John McCain publicly predicted and promised that he would "whip" Obama's "you-know-what" in tonight's presidential debate. This was a poor strategic move on McCain's part for a few of reasons: First, in the last two debates, McCain hasn't shown any ability to "whip" Obama in any way, shape or form, and so this bit of McCain bluster tells America how McCain would perform as president - as a loud-mouthed talker who can't size up his (our) situation and successfully put his fists where his mouth is when it comes to resolving conflict.

Second, McCain has set a high bar for himself that he probably cannot possibly meet. When the country sees that McCain was all talk, it will hurt McCain even more than if he hadn't made any predictions about the outcome of the debate at all. Moreover, McCain's prediction will increase the audience for a series of debates that have coincided with plummeting polling numbers for John McCain.

And tonight's debate format doesn't favor McCain, who has been unable to look Obama in the eye in past debates. The Washington Post points out that, "Unlike the two previous presidential debates, tonight's encounter will feature the two candidates seated at a table with the moderator." McCain is far more likely to get rattled and lose his cool, or seem angry and petulant, in this format than is Obama.

Third, McCain's bluster shows that he is desperate and that his supporters are egging him on to do something about the desperate state of his campaign. His promise to whip Obama is effectively a concession that he has failed to do so in past debates, and in the campaign in general.

If John McCain were smart, he'd have encouraged viewers not to watch the debates at all, since there's no evidence that the debates have done him any good. But, he might be of the opinion that the campaign is already effectively lost, based upon recent polling, so he has nothing to lose by promising that something will happen in tonight's debate that McCain has failed to accomplish in all the debates that preceded it.

I've found all of these debates to be ultimately pretty boring. Barack Obama has shown himself to be strong and steady, not surprising and making very little news through these debates. Meanwhile, McCain has meandered through his answers, calling the audience "my friends" in a way that is really annoying to those of us who don't consider him to be a friend of ours, including many Republican, Independent and undecided voters.

I'll watch tonight's debate but, with Obama in the lead and quietly trying to convince undecideds while running out the clock, it's hard to see how anything that happens there can be more monumental than the melt-down in the US and world economy that has dominated the news for the last few weeks.

Obama will keep doing what he has been doing in the last debates (making little news but seeking to reassure voters), while McCain may make a desperate move that will turn voters off even more than they already are - to him, to George W. Bush, and to their deregulated anything-goes banking, mortgage and health care systems.

The real news for the weeks leading into the General Election will be whether the candidates can get their voters to the polls and the Election Day chaos and spurious legal challenges to the final results that Republicans are preparing to submit to courts packed with Bush appointees.

Obama at 53%, Pulling Away from McCain

A majority of American likely voters seem to have realized that John McCain simply is not the man to lead the nation. According to The Washington Post, Obama now leads McCain by 53% to 43%, a ten-point spread. And this represents clear progress for Obama in convincing undecideds, Republicans and Independents, while McCain is moving backwards.

By Anne E. Kornblut and Jon Cohen,Washington Post Staff Writers
Monday, October 13, 2008; Page A01

With just over three weeks until Election Day, the two presidential nominees appear to be on opposite trajectories, with Sen. Barack Obama gaining momentum and Sen. John McCain stalled or losing ground on a range of issues and personal traits, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. WaPost

Overall, Obama is leading 53 percent to 43 percent among likely voters, and for the first time in the general-election campaign, voters gave the Democrat a clear edge on tax policy and providing strong leadership.

Conservatives Losing Confidence in McCain?

It seems as though some conservatives have lost hope and faith in John McCain. David Broder, a fairly conservative columnist at the Washington Post is pretty much endorsing Barack Obama, by pointing out that even many Republicans find Obama's leadership on the economy more credible than McCain's.

I was struck by the survey of economists reported in the current issue of
the Economist, the London newsmagazine that covers America so well. It found much greater confidence in the economic views and advisers of Obama than McCain. The 142 respondents included far more Democrats than Republicans. But even among Republicans, the Obama team was rated superior -- and among the unaffiliated, the choice was overwhelming. WaPost

And George Will said a few weeks ago that:

Under the pressure of the financial crisis, one presidential
candidate is behaving like a flustered rookie playing in a league too
high. And it's not Barack Obama. WaPost

They're referring to McCain as "childish" and "untethered".

McCain's V.P. Pick Wants Alaska to Secece from the United States

Secession: That's the way to bring the country together.

By Paul.

It’s time that we discuss Sarah Palin’s associations.

What would Sean Hannity say if Michelle Obama was a member of a political party, for seven years, that advocated separating Illinois from the United States of America and whose founder talked about once professed his “hatred for the American government” and cursed the American flag as a “damn flag”?
Don’t you think he’d be on that subject night after night after night?

And what would Bill O’Reilly shout (he never just talks) if Barack Obama had attended a number of meetings of this hypothetical political party while being an elected official?
O’Reilly’s head would explode and cover our TV screens is gooey red mush.

But not so for the woman who will be a better VP than Thomas Jefferson AND John Adams (or so it seems).

The founder of the Alaska Independence Party — a group that has been courted over the years by Sarah Palin, and one her husband was a member of for roughly seven years — once professed his “hatred for the American government” and cursed the American flag as a “damn flag.”

More at the AfroSpear and Afrosphere Action Coalition's BlackPerspective.Net