Quote of the day

"I never considered myself a maverick."

-- John McCain, April 3, 2010

I think this quote also qualifies as the flip-flop of the century, as pointed out by PolitiFact (which graded it a "Pants on Fire" lie) and The Young Turks:

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More on what's making America increasingly ungovernable...

Including extreme right-wing hyperbole from people like John McCain and Dick Cheney, in the latest Times column from Andrew Sullivan.

McCain actually said this:

President Obama is leading an extreme, left-wing crusade to bankrupt America.

Wow.

Quote for the day

Ken Duberstein, one of President Reagan's chiefs of staff, has endorsed Obama. Why? Sarah Palin.

I think it has very much undermined the whole question of John McCain’s judgment. You know what most Americans I think realized is that you don’t offer a job, let alone the vice presidency, to a person after one job interview. Even at McDonald’s, you’re interviewed three times before you get a job.

Obama vs. McCain: legislative records

McCain has an ad out talking about Obama's "present" votes in the Illinois legislature. But guess what? McCain has abstained from Senate votes 64% of the time since January 2007!!!

Here's a comparison of their recent votes from OpenCongress. And here's a previous post on their legislative records.

More of the same

The Democrats showcase a bevy of McCain surrogates who can't point to a difference between McCain and Bush when it comes to their economic policies:

Video and more on the comparison here.

AND THE OBAMA CAMPAIGN released this new ad today:

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McCain the "socialist"

Here's John McCain defending a progressive tax scheme where the rich pay more:

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Now McCain and Palin are calling Obama a socialist for supporting the same thing!

Now that's straight talk you can count on! (Don't tell Joe the Plumber!!!)

"Cold political calculation"

That's how McCain describes the addition of Sarah Palin to his ticket. Oh, my... heaven help the rest of us!

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More on McCain's robocalls

Even Fox News is calling McCain on them (and they quote a 2000 McCain statement in which he said he would never use such tactics):

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And despite what McCain said in the interview, Obama did, in fact, reject John Lewis' comparison of McCain's campaign rallies to those of George Wallace:

Senator Obama does not believe that John McCain or his policy criticism is in any way comparable to George Wallace or his segregationist policies. But John Lewis was right to condemn some of the hateful rhetoric that John McCain himself personally rebuked just last night, as well as the baseless and profoundly irresponsible charges from his own running mate that the Democratic nominee for President of the United States ‘pals around with terrorists.’ As Barack Obama has said himself, the last thing we need from either party is the kind of angry, divisive rhetoric that tears us apart at a time of crisis when we desperately need to come together. That is the kind of campaign Senator Obama will continue to run in the weeks ahead.

McCain's campaign defends its angry supporters

Still no admission that yelling "treason" and "traitor" about Obama is in any way reprehensible.

Who would have ever believed that McCain would sink so low?

UPDATE

McCain has seemed to come to his senses a bit and said this today about Obama:

He is a decent person and a person who you do not have to be scared as president of the United States.

Letter to the Editor

Sent today:

Editor,

In 2000 and 2004, I had great respect for John McCain. Both years I held on to the crazy notion that a joint Democratic-Republican ticket could transform an increasingly bitter political culture.

Fast forward to 2008. John McCain pledged repeatedly to run an honorable campaign, but he and Sarah Palin have more and more trod the low road as the number of days left in the race dwindles.

But it one thing to attack and use negative ads against one's opponent.

It is another thing entirely to allow your supporters to scream out taunts of "terrorist" and "off with his head" and to let those disturbing statements go unchallenged.

To allow such hatred and anger to simmer is unpatriotic, un-American, and dishonorable. John McCain should be ashamed. The United States of America deserves more from the party of Lincoln.

Write your own letter here.

Fear and anger at McCain rallies is becoming disturbing

My mother first brought this to my attention: the level of anger and fear at McCain-Palin rallies is rising and is not being helped by the specific attacks that McCain and Palin have chosen to make about Obama.

McCain has crossed a line by allowing his supporters to yell out "treason" and "terrorist" and other insults to describe Obama and not responding that we are all Americans and that that language is unacceptable.

More from Andrew Sullivan, Politico, and the Huffington Post.

UPDATE: More here and here. And this from Joe Klein at Time:

I'm beginning to worry about the level of craziness on the Republican side, the over-the-top, stampede-the-crowd statements by everyone from McCain on down, the vehemence of the crowds that McCain and Palin are drawing with people shouting "Kill him" and "He's a terrorist" and "Off with his head."

Watch the tape of the guy screaming, "He's a terrorist!" McCain seems to shudder at that, he rolls his eyes... and I thought for a moment he'd admonish the man. But he didn't. And now he's selling the Ayres non-story full-time. Yes, yes, it's all he has. True enough: he no longer has his honor. But we are on the edge of some real serious craziness here and it would be nice if McCain did the right thing and told his more bloodthirsty supporters to go home and take a cold shower. But McCain hasn't done the right thing all year. His campaign is appalling, as the New York Times editorial board said today--and more, it is a national disgrace.

JOE BIDEN has this to say:

All of the things they said about Barack Obama in the TV, on the TV, at their rallies, and now on YouTube … John McCain could not bring himself to look Barack Obama in the eye and say the same things to him ... In my neighborhood, when you’ve got something to say to a guy, you look him in the eye and you say it to him.

And this:

"Sarah Palin had great fun saying Joe Biden thinks paying taxes is patriotic. Well, let me tell you what Joe Biden thinks," the Delaware senator said at an outdoor rally. "Joe Biden thinks that anybody who takes millions of dollars offshore to avoid paying their fair share is unpatriotic."

The Obama-Biden campaign has accused John McCain of saying publicly he would close offshore banking loopholes, but saying otherwise in private.

"That is not patriotic and it will stop, it will stop in an Obama-Biden administration! Enough! I've had it up to here! Don't lecture me on patriotism," shouted Biden, getting drowned out by the applause of his supporters. "I'm dead tired of being taken advantage of. I'm getting tired of it."

Biden also said he's had enough of the McCain camp's personal attacks on Obama, slamming the Arizona senator for violating the "ethics" of the old neighborhood for not having the courage to go after Obama's character in their debates the way he has in speeches and in television ads.

McCain will cut Medicare benefits

From the Wall Street Journal:

John McCain would pay for his health plan with major reductions to Medicare and Medicaid, a top aide said, in a move that independent analysts estimate could result in cuts of $1.3 trillion over 10 years to the government programs.

The Republican presidential nominee has said little about the proposed cuts, but they are needed to keep his health-care plan "budget neutral," as he has promised. The McCain campaign hasn't given a specific figure for the cuts, but didn't dispute the analysts' estimate.

McCain's involvement in the last financial crisis

Here's a documentary about John McCain's involvement as a member of the Keating Five in the S&L crisis in the late 80s and early 90s. That crisis bears a lot of similarities to the current mortgage mess.

During that scandal, McCain intervened on behalf of Charles Keating. Federal regulators had identified irregularities in his firm's accounting; McCain and four other senators wanted the regulators to look the other way.

The result was that Keating remained in business for two more years, looting senior citizens and others of their life savings. The bailout ended up costing American taxpayers nearly $3.5 billion (and that's 1991 dollars; with inflation, it'd be a lot more today).

Quote for the day (yesterday's news edition)

For some insane reason McCain uttered these words yesterday: "I'm not a rich man."

Oh, reeeeaaaaaly. I guess he doesn't think $100 million qualifies him as a rich man!

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A summary of McCain's lies

Here are ten of them.

More clips from McCain's interview in Iowa

From his interview with the editorial board of the Des Moines Register.

On Palin's experience ("She's been a member of the PTA."):

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On his falling off the straight talk wagon:

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The fact that he's been covered by a taxpayer-financed healthcare plan for almost his entire adult life:

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Is it just me or does this guy seem pretty arrogant?

McCain speaks to the Des Moines Register

Listen to this guy:

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Were they really asking such confrontational questions? Jeez!

The full interview here, First Read's take here.

The latest Brave New Films McCain video

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A McCain video

This video was put together by a McCain supporter, presumably one who believed that McCain means what he says. But, as it turns out, while McCain said that he would suspend his campaign until the financial crisis was resolved, he neither completely suspended it nor kept his word about the debate. He's given in and has flown to Mississippi for tonight's debate.

As it turns out, it's been widely reported that he spoke for less than a minute at yesterday's White House summit.

Well done!

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A little history on McCain and the Keating Five

Guess who was right in the middle of the last "worst financial scandal in U.S. history" and "the worst ethics scandal in the history of the Senate"?

John McCain!

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Now that McCain has decided to show up at the debate after all, maybe Jim Lehrer will ask him if it was wise to inject himself into this financial crisis given his history with the savings and loan debacle!