Now, I don't normally do McCain themed diaries, but this is just too good to pass up. Continuing its string of calling McCain out on his BS, 6 hours ago the AP released the following article slamming McCain for being two-faced. Now to me this is WORSE than being a flip-flopper, because when you are two faced, you are someone who says one thing and does another, or someone who says one thing to the person's face, and talks about them like a dog behind their back.
After calling him an accordion that changes its tune depending on whether you are pushing in, or pulling out. The AP SLAMS McCain for trying to cast himself as a reformer.
Squeeze in and he touts his vast knowledge of the capital city. Draw out and he casts himself a reformer bent on changing its ways.
It's a remarkable dichotomy echoed throughout the Republican establishment, as a party that's held the White House for the past eight years tries to retain its grip in what has shaped up as a change election.
[snip]
Did the Democrats control the White House for the past eight years, or both chambers of Congress for the first six of them?
No, Republicans did.
Ouch, but it gets better. You see, McCain has long been touted as a Republican outsider. But this article pulls no punches, it even brings up the Keating 5. After talking about his maverickyness for a while, it gets to the heart o the matter
This time around, though, McCain is projecting a dual image: the outside insider. A 25-year veteran of the House and Senate, a white man like all the rest of the country's presidents to date, McCain is trying to fend off a [47]-year-old, first-term senator angling to become the first black to reach the Oval Office.
And now for the analogies:
After slamming the Palin pick, it goes on to the whole "change" thing they are trying to steal.
Squeeze in, and he's got the Washington skill set needed to right the country's Wall Street woes.
"I was the chairman on the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation for six years," he told reporters aboard his "Straight Talk Express" campaign bus amid Monday's market meltdown. "That's the committee that oversights our economy — transportation, science, telecommunications, airlines — all of the factors that drive our economy."
Draw out, and he distances himself from the administration of the Republican president who has endorsed him.
"Too many firms on Wall Street have been able to count on casual oversight by regulatory agencies in Washington. And there are so many of those regulators that the responsibility for oversight is scattered, unfocused and ineffective," he told a rally crowd Tuesday in Tampa, Fla.
Ouch. I think the media is saying "you cannot have it both ways John McCain." One cannot simultaneously be the most experienced guy ever, AND a Washington outsider when you've been there for a quarter of a century.
So like I said, McCain is WORSE than a flip-flopper. He's someone who doesn't know where he wants to stand depending on which way the wind is blowing. He's sold his soul to Karl Rove so he can be President, and the people who once admired him for his "maverickyness" are tired of it. Digg the AP Article here.
Also, the Democrats are piling on his stupid comments from earlier this week. Yesterday, the Huffington Post had a piece up showing some of the great comments the Democrats had. Rachel Maddow had it right, this is what it looks like when Democrats are on OFFENSE, and the Republicans can't handle being on DEFENSE:
"One Senator -- John McCain -- woke up yesterday morning, surveyed the state of the U.S. economy, summoned the ghost of his fellow Republican, Herbert Hoover, and declared, 'The fundamentals of our economy are strong,'" said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, before laying responsibility for the current woes in part on McCain's economic adviser Phil Gramm.
"I served with Phil Gramm here in the Senate," he said. "The same Phil Gramm who, as a Senator, was responsible for the deregulation of the financial services industry that paved the way for much of this crisis to occur. I like Phil Gramm, I don't like his economics. A respected economist at the University of Texas -- now that's where Phil Gramm taught, in Texas -- a respected economist at the University of Texas, James Galver said that Gramm was, and I quote, 'the most aggressive advocate of every predatory and rapacious element that the financial sector has,' and went on to say he is a 'sorcerer's apprentice of instability and disaster in the financial system.'"
"Since President Bush has been in office, median income for working-aged Americans has gone down by over $2,000 after adjusting for inflation. Family income is going down. People are spending more for food," said Sen. Bernie Sanders. "The cost of gas, of course, is now off the wall. College education costs are up. How does that sound like a situation in which 'the fundamentals of our economy are strong,' according to Senator McCain? And the confusion in all of this is pretty easily understood.
"The truth is," Sanders continued, "that the fundamentals of our economy are strong if you are within the top 1 percent of our country. If you're a million or billionaire, you know what, Senator McCain is right. For those people, the fundamentals of the economy are strong."
"Under the Bush administration over the last seven years, families' pockets have been picked at the grocery store, the gas pump, and each time they make their home energy, healthcare, and mortgage payments," said Sen. Chuck Schumer. "The Bush administration has presided over an unprecedented middle class economic squeeze -- household living expenses have more than doubled, while incomes have actually shrunk."
and the DNC released a new Web Ad:
It's just McCain saying that the fundamentals of our economy are strong 10 times, and ending with Gramm saying that we've become a nation of whiners. Right now it's just a web ad, but it needs to be on TV! Digg the ad here.
Oh, and one more thing. I notice that lately McCain has been stealing more and more from Obama. You mean to tell me that at 72 years of age, he still doesn't have his OWN ideas? I mean the man helped invent the miracle that is the BlackBerry, but he can't come up with his own campaign themes? Seems to me all McCain has been ding lately is scrambling to keep up with Obama. Pathetic.
The Financial Times even points out how McCain is trying to hijack Obama's "Change" message (you know, the one he's had since like 1995, seriously):
In a round of morning television interviews, Mr McCain said his faith in the economy stemmed from the enduring strength of American workers but acknow-ledged that their hard work had been put in jeopardy.
"They’ve been betrayed by a casino on Wall Street of greed, corruption and excess that has damaged them and their futures," he said. "And we’re going to fix it."
The sharply populist rhetoric marked a break by Mr McCain from the largely pro-business, deregulatory agenda he has espoused for most of the campaign.
Mr McCain said he remained opposed to "excessive and unnecessary government regulation" but promised reform to the "patchwork quilt" of agencies that oversee Wall Street.
Like Jon Stewart said last night, Republicans are trying to get people's heads to explode.
A more serious tone has now returned to the campaign and it should favour Mr Obama if the Wall Street meltdown reinforces voters’ desire for change and deepens mistrust of Republican policies.
However, Mr McCain has made progress in distancing himself from the Bush administration in recent weeks and sought to hijack Mr Obama’s change message by portraying himself and Ms Palin as "maverick" reformers. The financial crisis will test the success of that approach.
Not an original thought in his head.
UPDATE
Here's Keith and Rachel on McCain inventing the miracle that is a BlackBerry:
and here's Rachel on McCain's regulation flip flop:
McCaskill did a great job on Rachel's show last night, I'm trying to find video. When I do, I'll add it :o) She pushed back on the McCain's bogus town hall excuse, it was great. McCaskill is my favorite surrogate, but Debbie Wasserman Schultz is moving up :o)
Oh, and while we're talking about how UNMAVERICKY McCain is, remember this web ad:
and Jon Stewart nailed McCain on his acceptance speech:
UPDATE
Check out this Biden Smackdown:
"Sen. McCain at 9 a.m. yesterday said, yesterday morning, he stated again -- quote -- 'the fundamentals of this economy are strong,'" Biden said at Linvilla Orchards in Media, Pa., causing the crowd of 3,000 to boo loudly.
"I'm not just saying this to get a boo," Biden continued. "I'm saying this to point out just how -- at 10 o'clock, as we Catholics say, John had an epiphany: John said the economy is in economic crisis. Now, what happened in one hour between the economy being sound and an economic crisis looming? Well, John had a political realization, not a policy conversion."
[snip]
"John McCain, if he actually realized what was going on, he would have been forced to admit that the economic philosophy, one that he shares with Bush, the economic philosophy of the last eight years, is a bankrupt philosophy," said Barack Obama's running mate. "He would have to admit that we could have used some common sense oversight, we could have looked out a little bit for the middle class. If we did, we would have made a big difference."
Biden then blamed McCain for "proudly shredding" government regulations of Wall Street years ago.
"Today, he's talking about the greed of Wall Street," Biden said. "Yesterday, the day before, a year before, two years before, he was on Wall Street heralding the fact that he was proudly shredding whatever regulation and oversight that, in fact, were to manage these markets that now he calls greedy."
ZING! I love this guy! He just tells it like it is. Maybe McCain should have stopped lying on Obama, because now Obama and Biden will just be telling the TRUTH about McCain until November, and the truth is more devastating than any LIE they could come up with.
BTW, Obama's scheduled to have a townhall at 2:40 ET, you can watch at www.cnn.com/live and probably on www.barackobama.com/live :o)
UPDATE
Here's McCaskill on Rachel's Show. I would embed, but I can't find it on YouTube, and I can't figure out how to embed MSNBC video :o)