I was deeply dismayed this evening after watching Tweety gloss right past Palin's ignorance on the Bush Doctrine. I thought to myself, "once again, Bob, a reporter's inner-douchbag has overpowered the decent Journalist that had made the reporter's body host." In this frame of mind, the last thing I expected was the broadside that the AP delivers to the fumbling McCain/Palin campaign.
The article runs the gamut:
- McCain lying (or being senile) about Palin's earmarks on the View
- Troopergate
- Biting remarks by the wonderful, future first female POTUS, Senator McCaskill:
Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., said Palin's suggestion of war with Russia "sent chills down my spine."
"I'm not sure that Gov. Palin understands that right now, if that were to occur, we would have to institute a massive draft," McCaskill said.
- Palin's bat-sh*t crazy foreign policy stances (with the exception of #5 below)
- Palin's lock-step with Obama's policy towards launching attacks in the Pakistan/Afganistan (you know, the one McCain scoffed)
- In-what-respect-Charlie?-Gate
- Palin's anti-book crusade
- Her extremist anti-environment and anti-science views
- Eldon"the Smarmy" McCain standing by his false, sleazy commercials.
The AP packages everything on the above list in one convenient, enjoyable and soon-to-be very widely published article. And the article doesn't discuss these items using the standard parrot format. Instead, it puts these problems in the appropriate light: as evidence that McCain and his campaign has lost any shred of integrity and competence that they may have once had.
Here are a few highlights:
Republican presidential candidate John McCain on Friday defended two debunked television ads attacking Democrat Barack Obama and claimed erroneously that running mate Sarah Palin never sought money for lawmakers' pet projects as Alaska governor.
How often do we see a "journalist" these days qualify a McCain lie with the adjective (e.g. "debunked") and adverb (e.g. "erroneously") it deserves?
And then there's this highly-unflattering paragraph:
Taylor Griffin, a spokesman for the McCain campaign, said Thursday that Palin asked the head librarian, Mary Ellen Emmons, on three occasions how she would react to attempts at banning books. He said the questions, in the fall of 1996, were hypothetical and entirely appropriate. He said a patron had asked the library to remove a title the year before and Palin wanted to understand how such disputes were handled.
Records on the city's Web site, however, do not show any books were challenged in Wasilla in the 10 years before Palin took office.
Ouch, another McCain liar busted!
But this is the clincher:
McCain looked irked when Behar asked him whether he had jettisoned his independence as a candidate by appearing to be in "lock step" with President Bush's policies.
"What specific area have I, quote, 'changed?' Nobody can name it," McCain said.
McCain has changed positions on significant issues. For example, he once opposed Bush's tax cuts but now supports making them permanent. He had opposed lifting the ban on additional offshore oil exploration but now calls for drilling off the U.S. coast. He had been against mandatory caps on greenhouse gas emissions but now favors them.
Update: Thanks for getting this diary on the rec list; it's no small task these days. blueintheface commented with a critical, comprehensive list of McCain flip-flops from the carpetbaggerreport. I don't know about you guys, but I'm forwarding it to every Republican (soon-to-be Obamacan) in my address book.