Another analysis of McCain: who is he really?

[dave b]

Spin this if you can.

...But perhaps the most revealing of McCain's flip-flops was his promise, made at the beginning of the year, that he would "raise the level of political dialogue in America." McCain pledged he would "treat my opponents with respect and demand that they treat me with respect." Instead, with Rove protégé Steve Schmidt at the helm, McCain has turned the campaign into a torrent of debasing negativity, misrepresenting Barack Obama's positions on everything from sex education for kindergarteners to middle-class taxes. In September, in one of his most blatant embraces of Rove-like tactics, McCain hired Tucker Eskew - one of Rove's campaign operatives who smeared the senator and his family during the 2000 campaign in South Carolina.

Throughout the campaign this year, McCain has tried to make the contest about honor and character. His own writing gives us the standard by which he should be judged. "Always telling the truth in a political campaign," he writes in Worth the Fighting For, "is a great test of character." He adds: "Patriotism that only serves and never risks one's self-interest isn't patriotism at all. It's selfishness. That's a lesson worth relearning from time to time." It's a lesson, it would appear, that the candidate himself could stand to relearn.

"I'm sure John McCain loves his country," says Richard Clarke, the former counterterrorism czar under Bush. "But loving your country and lying to the American people are apparently not inconsistent in his view."

From t r u t h o u t | Make-Believe Maverick

db

[F&D]

Wow is this is ever a big splash of spicy failsauce.

At best this shows McCain to be a naive fool for believing that the mainstream media would do anything other than give Obama huge freaking pass on everything. He finally woke up and realized that he's going to have to do his own wet work, because the public is being completely snowed on what and who Obama is.

[dave b]

Originally Posted by F&D

Wow is this is ever a big splash of spicy failsauce.

At best this shows McCain to be a naive fool for believing that the mainstream media would do anything other than give Obama huge freaking pass on everything. He finally woke up and realized that he's going to have to do his own wet work, because the public is being completely snowed on what and who Obama is.

I didn't think you'd read it.

db

[F&D]

Originally Posted by dave b

I didn't think you'd read it.

db

I did read it. But seriously dude, if you expect me to be reading crap from truthout, then you're going to have to start reading National Review and LittleGreenFootballs.

[dave b]

A point-by-point rebuttal might have advanced your point of view, but I couldn't find one.

db

[F&D]

Originally Posted by dave b

A point-by-point rebuttal might have advanced your point of view, but I couldn't find one.

db

What? I did. The charge is that McCain went back on his word to supposedly run a "clean campaign".

I'm not denying this. I thought he was naive in the first place to think that he could try to stay above it all while Obama's media lap dogs did all his dirty work.

[Baldrick]

Are you actually trying to make this out to be the fault of the Obama campaign? Honestly? wipes tear from eye.

[F&D]

Originally Posted by Baldrick

Are you actually trying to make this out to be the fault of the Obama campaign? Honestly? wipes tear from eye.

What? Where did you get this from? Of course I'm not blaming the Obama campaign. Why wouldn't they let the media carry their water for them?

[Parabellum]

Originally Posted by F&D

Wow is this is ever a big splash of spicy failsauce.

At best this shows McCain to be a naive fool for believing that the mainstream media would do anything other than give Obama huge freaking pass on everything. He finally woke up and realized that he's going to have to do his own wet work, because the public is being completely snowed on what and who Obama is.

Your "logic" is astounding.

Its ok when McCain lies, because it was actually the media's fault.

The scary thing is that I can tell you are smart enough to see the gaping holes in what you are passing for logic these days....so I can only conclude that decades of GOP rhetoric and fear of change is overriding the reason that you must posess.

[kitkat]

Who is this guy? It's easy enough to find out--- McCain--is simply a clone of GB in his 70's--dim, corrupt, and undistinguished in any substantive way whatsoever. Plain as that--anyone can read all the gory details in the Rolling Stone. Chapters in this complete bio of a true bottomfeeder:

McCain First
The Navy Brat
Bottom Gun
Violating the Code
The Confession
"A Bellicose Hawk"
Booze and Pork
The Carpetbagger
The Keating Five
Favors for Donors
Mr. Flip-Flop


Tim Dickinson's disassembly of McCrock's pathetic (but lovingly crafted) "maverick" bio propaganda is one of the better (most thorough) i have seen...

[F&D]

Originally Posted by Parabellum

Your "logic" is astounding.

Its ok when McCain lies, because it was actually the media's fault.

The scary thing is that I can tell you are smart enough to see the gaping holes in what you are passing for logic these days....so I can only conclude that decades of GOP rhetoric and fear of change is overriding the reason that you must posess.

Actually, I'm not giving McCain a pass for lying. At most, he's guilty of naivete. In order for it to be a lie, you'd have to prove that he made this pledge to run a clean campaign with the willful intent to go back on it. There is no evidence to suggest this is the case.

But it's a moot point, because McCain isn't even running a "dirty campaign", there is just the incessant whining from you guys about how you don't want anyone to know who and what Obama is. McCain is just finally doing the job that the media should have done in vetting the other candidate. Don't the people have a right to know his background, history, and associations? McCain's campaign is only "dirty" in the sense that Obama's own past is dirty.

[keystonejenks]

Originally Posted by F&D

But it's a moot point, because McCain isn't even running a "dirty campaign",

uhhhhhhhhh what?

[Parabellum]

Originally Posted by F&D

Actually, I'm not giving McCain a pass for lying. At most, he's guilty of naivete. In order for it to be a lie, you'd have to prove that he made this pledge to run a clean campaign with the willful intent to go back on it. There is no evidence to suggest this is the case.

But it's a moot point, because McCain isn't even running a "dirty campaign", there is just the incessant whining from you guys about how you don't want anyone to know who and what Obama is. McCain is just finally doing the job that the media should have done in vetting the other candidate. Don't the people have a right to know his background, history, and associations? McCain's campaign is only "dirty" in the sense that Obama's own past is dirty.

Statements in bold flagged for denial of reality.

As for the promise of him running an honest campaign, that is the expectation of every candidate, on either side of the aisle. For someone who just ran on "straight talk express"...for you to suggest that he did not promise honesty is just apologista nonsense.


Dirty campaign:

Features : Radar Online : Charles Kaiser on McCain's Dirty Campaign

McCain’s Dirty Campaign Starting To Anger The Press |

McCain's Dirty Campaign - Rocklin

http://blogs.reuters.com/trail08/200...own-and-dirty/

And So It Starts...McCain's Campaign Goes Dirty | Crooks and Liars

[RiverCityRebel]

Parabellum - those articles you cite are all from the MSM. Therefore, they contain no fact and skew in Obama's direction by their very nature.

[RiverCityRebel]

There's a distance between the two men that belies their shared experience in North Vietnam - call it an honor gap. Like many American POWs, McCain broke down under torture and offered a "confession" to his North Vietnamese captors. Dramesi, in contrast, attempted two daring escapes. For the second he was brutalized for a month with daily torture sessions that nearly killed him. His partner in the escape, Lt. Col. Ed Atterberry, didn't survive the mistreatment. But Dramesi never said a disloyal word, and for his heroism was awarded two Air Force Crosses, one of the service's highest distinctions. McCain would later hail him as "one of the toughest guys I've ever met."

Wait, what? McCain broke down under torture and confessed?