PERRspectives: June 2008 Archives

June 2008 Archives

	A Conversation with Real McCain Author Cliff Schecter Back in 2000, Democratic strategist and political writer Cliff Schecter contributed $20 to the presidential campaign of Arizona Republican Senator John McCain. An admirer of McCain's independent streak then in opposing Republican orthodoxy on supply-side tax cuts and overturning Roe v Wade, Schecter admitted, "I trusted him." Eight years and seemingly endless McCain flip-flops later, Cliff Schecter wants his money back. That in a nutshell is the genesis of Schecter's new book, The Real McCain: Why Conservatives Don't Trust Him... more Posted on June 30, 2008 \| Comments (2)

	Romney Said to Top McCain's VP List Despite Past Feud Mike Allen of the Politico reports this morning that former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney now tops John McCain's list of potential running mates. The GOP insiders he spoke to claim that Romney's business background, dazzling teeth, perfect hair, high-profile family roots in swing state Michigan - and his ability to "raise $50 million in 60 days" from the Mormon community nationwide - have boosted Romney's VP stock. Unfortunately, many in the McCain camp remain suspicious of Romney, if for no... more Posted on June 30, 2008 \| Comments (2)

	McCain: Forget Taxes and Gas Prices. No Really, Forget Them. On more than one occasion this campaign season, Republican John McCain claimed Americans' economic worries were all in their heads. So it's only natural that a man who described the economic downturn as "psychological" would have his own mental strategy for coping with spiraling gas prices and looming tax bills. Just forget them. That's the message emerging for two stories this weekend. First comes word, as Newsweek reported, that the McCains are delinquent in paying property taxes on an oceanfront... more Posted on June 29, 2008 \| Comments (0)

	Women Who Love McCain Too Much Even as poll after poll shows Barack Obama consolidating his sizable leads among women in general and Hillary Clinton supporters in particular, the American media soldiers on in its attempt to manufacture dissent. CNN is no exception. Last night, Larry King featured disgruntled Clinton backer turned McCainiac, Cynthia Ruccia of the group Women for Fair Politics. Decrying the supposed sexism of the Democratic Party and the press, Ruccia made the case for John McCain, who just happens to be among... more Posted on June 27, 2008 \| Comments (1)

	Murphy's Law for McCain and Romney If nothing else, a Republican ticket of John McCain and Mitt Romney would offer Americans the potential for great theater. For openers, the fact that the two men essentially hate each other could make for great drama. And as his comments yesterday suggest, the return of their common ex-adviser Mike Murphy to the stage could bring much needed - if unintended - comedy all the way to November. Murphy, who served as a campaign strategist for Senator McCain in 2000... more Posted on June 26, 2008 \| Comments (0)

	McCain's Revisionist History on Russia and the G8 When it comes to his foreign policy, John McCain is a revisionist historian and a particularly clumsy one at that. Having asked Americans to ignore his record as the master of disaster on Iraq, John McCain similarly underwent an election-year transformation from rabid France-basher to born-again multilateralist and fawning Francophile. Now, the McCain campaign is hoping to erase any vestiges of John McCain's 2007 pledge to expel Russia from the G8. As Reuters reports, an anonymous McCain adviser essentially told... more Posted on June 26, 2008 \| Comments (0)

	Dr. McCain Calls Economic Problems "Psychological." Again. John McCain isn't a psychologist, but he's playing one on TV. Again. For the second time in two months, the supposed maverick turned modern day Freud has diagnosed Americans' economic ills and concluded that it's all in our heads. And to be sure, his recommended therapy - offshore oil drilling and a gas tax holiday - are the equivalent of "take two aspirin and call me in the morning." At a town hall meeting in Fresno on Tuesday, McCain finally... more Posted on June 25, 2008 \| Comments (1)

	McCain's "Bring 'Em On" Election Strategy While a terrorist attack on the U.S. homeland would be a tragedy for the American people, it would apparently be viewed as a blessing by the campaign of John McCain. On the same day that USA Today reported that terrorism is the only issue on which Americans clearly prefer John McCain to Barack Obama, McCain senior strategist Charlie Black admitted of another terror strike here, "certainly it would be a big advantage to him." As it turns out, John McCain... more Posted on June 24, 2008 \| Comments (0)

	Economists Blast McCain's eBay Economy Two months after I first highlighted John McCain's prescription of eBay as the cure for what ails the economy, economists are finally weighing in. As Bloomberg reports, the feedback isn't pretty. While McCain, who has admitted knowing little about economics and even less about computers, may envision a nation of auctioneers, "new people selling stuff out of their closet on EBay isn't growing the economy." That's the message from economist Betsey Stevenson, a professor at the Wharton School of Business.... more Posted on June 24, 2008 \| Comments (0)

	"Stupidest Guy" Feith Defends Rice's "Mushroom Cloud" Back in 2003, General Tommy Franks called Bush Iraq intelligence fabulist Douglas Feith "the f**king stupidest guy on the face of the earth." Two years later, Colin Powell's one-time aide Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson said of Feith "seldom in my life have I met a dumber man." Defending Condoleezza Rice's - and by extension, President Bush's - pre-war "smoking gun/mushroom cloud" Iraq talking point, Douglas Feith today once again justified his critics' low opinion of him. Writing at the National Review,... more Posted on June 23, 2008 \| Comments (2)

	Scott McClellan and Bush's Soprano Family Values On Friday, Scott McClellan learned the hard way that the Bush White House is a lot like the Soprano family. As HBO's legendary Jersey mobster Tony Soprano once put it, "Once you're into this family, there's no getting out." Judging by McClellan's treatment at the hands of George W. Bush's foot soldiers on the House Judiciary Committee, today's Republican Party shares the Soprano family values. Testifying about the Plamegate affair, the former White House press secretary turned tell-all author found... more Posted on June 22, 2008 \| Comments (0)

	New Report Demolishes "Gitmo 30" Talking Point Used by Scalia and McCain Earlier this week, I detailed how John McCain, John Yoo and Justice Antonin Scalia in the wake of the Court's Boumediene decision all continued to peddle the discredited Republican talking point about "30 former Guantanamo detainees" who had "returned to the fight." Now a devastating new report released Tuesday from Seton Hall professor Mark Denbeaux puts to rest the Scalia's "urban legend." That figure of 30 terror recidivists unleashing a bloodbath had been debunked by earlier studies from Denbeaux's team... more Posted on June 21, 2008 \| Comments (0)

	Gonzales Sacked Levin, Lied to Senate Over Torture Policies ABC News Thursday provided a new twist on Alberto Gonzales' role in the converging Bush administration torture and prosecutor purge scandals. According to ABC, the new Attorney General Gonzales in early 2005 sacked top administration lawyer Daniel Levin over his December 2004 memo declaring "torture is abhorrent," only to promise him a U.S. attorney slot to placate him. But lost in ABC's account is the fact just before he carried out his retribution against Levin, Alberto Gonzales lied to the... more Posted on June 20, 2008 \| Comments (2)

	Computer Non-User McCain Cites eBay as Solution for Recession As Huffington Post recently reminded Americans, John McCain by his own admission doesn't know how to use a computer. But as with so much that passes for his public policy, John McCain didn't let his ignorance get in the way of speaking out. As it turns out, back in April the self-described computer "illiterate" proclaimed eBay was the answer to poverty and recession in the United States. Earlier this year, the Politico's Mike Allen (video here) asked the GOP presidential... more Posted on June 19, 2008 \| Comments (0)

	LA Times Throws McCain a Curveball on Iraq John McCain's campaign launched a new effort this week to whitewash his calamitous record of egregious errors and flawed forecasts when it comes to Iraq. As ThinkProgress reported, the McCain web site has unveiled a very elegant - and very selective - new timeline highlighting John McCain's "judgment" on Iraq. Hoping that voters will forget his disastrous predictions throughout 2002 and 2003 in the run-up to the war, the McCain timeline unsurprisingly starts in August 2003. Unfortunately, a timely Los... more Posted on June 19, 2008 \| Comments (1)

	WaPo's Gerson Blasts Franken, Ignores GOP "Vulgarians" In case there was any doubt that former Bush speechwriter Michael Gerson is now performing the same role for the Republican Party on the Washington Post opinion pages, today's column should put it to rest. Labeling former comedian turned Minnesota Senate candidate Al Franken a "vulgarian," Gerson proclaimed the Democrat's satirical writing of the past the "Federalist Papers of lifestyle liberalism." As it turns out, Gerson not only has no sense of humor, he has no sense of balance: the... more Posted on June 18, 2008 \| Comments (0)

	Issa Adds Russert Outrage to His Hall of Shame As ThinkProgress reported earlier today, the execrable California Congressman Darrell Issa used the occasion of Tim Russert's wake to appropriate the memory of the late Meet the Press host for political purposes. Of course, Issa had guaranteed himself a particularly hot seat in Dante's inner circle long before he enlisted Russert on the House floor today to make a case for off-shore oil drilling. From attacking the families of dead Blackwater contractors and accusing Valerie Plame of perjury to playing... more Posted on June 17, 2008 \| Comments (10)

	McCain, Scalia and Yoo Peddle Discredited "Gitmo 30" Sound Bite In a Wall Street Journal op-ed today, Bush administration torture architect John Yoo thundered against the Supreme Court's restoration of habeas corpus rights for Guantanamo detainees. Branding the Boumediene decision "judicial imperialism of the highest order," Yoo like Justice Scalia and John McCain raised the specter of those 30 released Gitmo terrorists as a warning of the carnage the Court's ruling is certain to produce. Alas, as with so much else passing over John Yoo's lips, it simply isn't true.... more Posted on June 17, 2008 \| Comments (0)

	McCain Sets a New Record: 10 Flip-Flops in Two Weeks In his eternal quest for the Republican presidential nomination, the supposed maverick John McCain has repeatedly reversed long-held positions and compromised purportedly core principles. From the Bush tax cuts, the religious right and immigration reform to overturning Roe v. Wade, proclaiming Samuel Alito a model Supreme Court Justice and bashing France (just to name a few), McCain changed sides as changing political conditions dictated. But over the past two weeks, McCain's rapid fire, acrobatic flip-flops have produced whiplash, at least... more Posted on June 17, 2008 \| Comments (2)

	GOPers Claim Court's Gitmo Decision "Worse Than Dred Scott" Just in case Republicans still wonder why the GOP routinely garners less than 10% of the African-American vote, the reactions of some of their leading lights to the Supreme Court's Guantanamo detainee decision should provide a quick reminder. While John McCain Friday simply called the Court's Boumediene ruling "one of the worst decisions in the history of this country," right-wing legal analyst David Rivkin and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich were much more specific. The Court's restoration of habeas corpus,... more Posted on June 16, 2008 \| Comments (3)

	Studies Refute McCain's 30 Gitmo Recidivists Talking Point In the wake of the Supreme Court's restoration of habeas corpus rights in its Boumediene decision Friday, John McCain and his allies on the right have predictably forecast an American bloodbath at the hands of terrorists unleashed from Guantanamo. While Justice Antonin Scalia claimed the ruling would "almost certainly cause more Americans to be killed," Newt Gingrich contended the Supreme Court "could cost us a city." As for McCain, he simply regurgitated a soon-to-be familiar GOP talking point, "30 of... more Posted on June 16, 2008 \| Comments (1)

	McCain to Swim to the Gates of Hell to Catch Bin Laden During a town hall meeting in New Jersey on Friday, Republican presidential nominee John McCain reiterated his pledge to "get Osama bin Laden and bring him to justice." Amazingly, McCain was able to make his promise without his signature line about following Bin Laden to "the gates of hell." Even more amazing, McCain cited swimming as the skill American intelligence operatives will need to help him do it. McCain promised his Garden State audience that he, unlike George W. Bush,... more Posted on June 15, 2008 \| Comments (0)

	McCain to Call for New Gitmo Courts as McClatchy Documents Errors On the same day the McClatchy papers released the results of a devastating investigation into dozens of terrorism detainees wrongly imprisoned by the United States, Republican water carrier Bill Kristol reported that Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham are planning to double-down on Gitmo. In the wake of Friday's Supreme Court ruling McCain branded "one of the worst decisions in the history of this country," the Republican presidential nominee is planning to introduce legislation creating new "national security courts" designed... more Posted on June 15, 2008 \| Comments (0)

	McCain, RNC to Keep $300,000 from Disgraced Texas Fundraiser Back in 1976, WABC-TV weatherman Tex Antoine was fired for joking on air to his New York audience, "'If rape is inevitable, lie back and enjoy it." 32 years later, John McCain abruptly cancelled a fundraiser at the home of Texas oilman Clayton Williams, who it turns out happens to have told the same grotesque quip during his failed 1990 gubernatorial run. As for the $300,000 Williams raised, that the McCain campaign plans to keep. As the New York Times... more Posted on June 14, 2008 \| Comments (1)

	McCain's Sins of Military Commission On the stump in New Jersey today, John McCain launched a thundering two-pronged assault on yesterday's Supreme Court decision on habeas corpus rights for detainees held at Guantanamo Bay. Again raising the specter of "unaccountable judges," McCain picked up on his earlier, right-wing handbook assault against so-called judicial activism. Then turning to fear-mongering, McCain proclaimed "one of the worst decisions in the history of this country" will lead to more attacks against the American people. But lost in McCain's red-faced... more Posted on June 13, 2008 \| Comments (0)

	McCain's AIDS Mentor Coburn Blocks Senate PEPFAR Bill A year after he admitted "you've stumped me" when asked whether contraceptives help stop the spread of HIV, John McCain once again finds himself in the AIDS spotlight. On Wednesday, Americans learned that arch-conservative Tom Coburn (R-OK) is blocking Senate action on a proposed tripling of President Bush's global AIDS program. That would be the same Tom Coburn John McCain extolled in March 2007 as "the guy I really respect" when it comes to policy for AIDS and contraceptives. As... more Posted on June 13, 2008 \| Comments (1)

	5 Years Ago Today: McCain Proclaims Mission Accomplished in Iraq One day after he proclaimed that it is "not too important" when U.S. troops return from Iraq, John McCain commemorated an unfortunate five year anniversary. In the annals of McCain's dismal record of flawed forecasts and calamitous calls on Iraq, June 11, 2003 stands out. On that one day, George W. Bush's would-be Republican successor both defended his proclamation of mission accomplished while insisting that Saddam's weapons of mass destruction would surely be found. As MediaMatters documented, McCain's daily-double came... more Posted on June 11, 2008 \| Comments (1)

	Jon Stewart Gives Ralph Reed a Pass on Abramoff Ties On Tuesday, Jon Stewart welcomed former Christian Coalition wunderkind and Jack Abramoff scandal figure Ralph Reed to the Daily Show to pitch his new book, Dark Horse. But while the two discussed Reed's joining Scooter Libby, Bill O'Reilly and Lynne Cheney among the ranks of racy right-wing novelists, Stewart gave the disgraced lobbyist and failed Georgia Republican pol a free ride when it came to Reed's own close association with Abramoff. Ironically, Reed's Daily Show appearance came just one day... more Posted on June 11, 2008 \| Comments (2)

	McCain Silent on Confederate Flag Flap in Florida? As the so-called Sons of the Confederacy no doubt let loose with a rebel yell over their display of the world's largest confederate flag outside Tampa, John McCain has apparently been silent. Given his own sad experience of gymnastic flip-flops over the Stars and Bars since 2000, his reticence is understandable. Unlike the flying of the confederate flag over the South Carolina state house, the Florida display occurs on private property near the junction of two interstate highways. Yet the... more Posted on June 10, 2008 \| Comments (2)

	Lindsey Graham Decides McCain is Bush After All South Carolina Senator and John McCain water carrier Lindsey Graham did his man no favors on the Sunday talk shows. Just five days after McCain pleaded with voters during his disastrous "green screen" speech not to believe that he represents a third term for George W. Bush, Graham agreed that "John McCain is calling for an extension or maybe enhancement of the Bush policies." Amazingly, Graham's pronouncement came just one month after he dared the media and voters to equate... more Posted on June 9, 2008 \| Comments (1)

	Gas Hits $4 a Gallon; Bush "Hadn't Heard That" Just a little over three months ago, President Bush declared he "hadn't heard" that gasoline would soon reach $4 a gallon. Today, the milestone anticipated by all save the President of the United States came to pass: "Drivers are paying an average of $4 for a gallon of gasoline for the first time. AAA and the Oil Price Information Service say the national average price for a gallon of regular gas rose to $4.005 overnight from $3.988. But consumers in... more Posted on June 8, 2008 \| Comments (5)

	McCain Reverses Position on Balancing the Budget. Again. On Friday, the campaign of John McCain continued its game of "he loves me, he loves me not" with the federal budget deficit. His chief economic adviser Douglas Holtz-Eakin pledged McCain would implement a balanced budget "by the end of his first term." Of course, that was a reversal of Holtz-Eakin's proclaimed target in April of 2017. And needless to say, that represented an abandonment of McCain's February promise to end the red ink by 2012. As ThinkProgress detailed, according... more Posted on June 8, 2008 \| Comments (0)

	*McCain's '98 Joke, Btch Episodes a Reminder for Clinton Voters** As Hillary Clinton prepard to formally announce her endorsement of Barack Obama for President, some of her disappointed and disheartened supporters have vowed to support John McCain. Angered by what they see as sexism and disrespect from the media and political establishment, these Clinton backers threaten to turn to a Republican who stands opposed to virtually everything they hold most dear. But two episodes from John McCain's recent past - "the Bitch" and "the Joke" - should remind all Democratic... more Posted on June 7, 2008 \| Comments (2)

	McCain Proclaims Himself a Fool in New Ad Just three days after his calamitous "green screen" speech, John McCain today released his first general election ad, one which may prove similarly damaging. Declaring "only a fool or a fraud talks tough or romantically about war," McCain invited Americans to revisit his still-jaw dropping "bomb bomb Iran" joke during an April 2007 town hall meeting. As you'll remember, McCain in April 2007 famously responded to a question about when America would "send an air mail message to Tehran." Singing... more Posted on June 6, 2008 \| Comments (1)

	Phase 2 Report Ends Roberts' Iraq Intel Stonewall Four years after Kansas Senator Pat Roberts triumphantly cleared the Bush administration of misusing pre-war Iraq intelligence, the Phase 2 report of the Senate Intelligence Committee he once chaired today reached a much different conclusion. After Roberts successfully stonewalled past the 2004 and 2006 elections the studies examining White House statements on the Iraqi threat and the role of the Pentagon's Office of Special Plans, his successor Jay Rockefeller today concluded: "The president and his advisers undertook a relentless public... more Posted on June 5, 2008 \| Comments (9)

	McCain and Friends Rewrite History on Iraq Aided and abetted by the conservative echo chamber, John McCain this week launched a campaign to rewrite his dismal history of faulty forecasts and disastrous predictions on Iraq. Demonstrating that experience is truly no substitute for judgment, John McCain like President Bush was sadly wrong at almost every turn in promoting the invasion and occupation of Iraq. From his predictions of a short war and claims U.S. troops would be greeted as liberators to his announcements of mission accomplished, his... more Posted on June 5, 2008 \| Comments (1)

	John McCain's Extreme Makeover In a doddering performance Josh Marshall deemed "frighteningly sad," John McCain tried to steal Barack Obama's thunder on Tuesday night. As he lambasted Obama and reached out to Hillary Clinton's supporters, McCain laid out his strategy for the fall campaign. Making a mad dash to the center for the general election, the born-again 2000 maverick is running away from his party, his president and his "true conservative" record he relied to win the Republican nomination. To gauge the extent of... more Posted on June 4, 2008 \| Comments (0)

	Olmert Deals Bush Double Defeats on Syria, Settlements On Wednesday, embattled Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and lame duck American President George W. Bush will meet in Washington in a gathering of the walking wounded. Bush's fading hopes to secure a Middle East peace agreement before leaving office have dimmed further as scandal enveloped his Israeli counterpart. Worse still, by moving ahead with peace talks with Syria and the expansion of West Bank settlements over just the past two weks, Olmert has already dealt President Bush a double-blow.... more Posted on June 3, 2008 \| Comments (0)

	McCain, Like Romney and Cheney, Runs Afoul of Iran Divestment Pledge Addressing the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) today, Republican presidential nominee John McCain called for a global campaign of divestment from Iran. He might want to start with his own campaign manager, Rick Davis, whose work on behalf of Ukrainian mogul Rinat Akhmetov included business dealings with Tehran. As it turns out, John McCain is following Mitt Romney and Dick Cheney as just the latest hard-line Republican to run afoul of his own plans for Iranian disinvestment. McCain used... more Posted on June 2, 2008 \| Comments (3)

	McCain's Future Perfect Presidency After being pilloried by Barack Obama and the press for his erroneous assertion that "we have drawn down to pre-surge" troop levels in Iraq, John McCain once again resorted to grammatical sleight of hand to extricate himself. Speaking about possible future events as if they happened in the past, McCain claimed credit in the present. But as his jaw-dropping "2013" speech earlier this month revealed, that rhetorical device isn't merely a defensive tactic, but an essential campaign strategy. Call it... more Posted on June 1, 2008 \| Comments (1)