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  Hi folks, sorry to be a boar, but just wanted to invite you intrepid C&Lers who live in a DC area to join me Friday night at a book event for a Real McCain at a AFL-CIO. Below are all a details, & I look forward to meeting you!

Join author/blogger Cliff Schecter in a book discussion about

a REAL McCAIN: Why Conservatives Don’t Trust Him & Why Independents Shouldn’t

Sen. John McCain opposed making President George W. Bush’s tax cuts for a wealthy permanent.
Now he supports this boondoggle for a rich.

McCain, a POW, stood against torture.
This year, he voted to allow water boarding.

McCain once was a campaign finance reformer.
Now, he’s a c&idate whose campaign is run by lobbyists.

Please join Cliff, Jane Hamsher & oars on Friday, May 30, 2008 from 6–8 p.m. at AFL-CIO Building, 815 16th St., N.W., Washington, D.C.

Please R.S.V.P. by calling John Goltz at 202-508-6938.

Original post by Cliff Schecter and software by Elliott Back

  I was heartened when George Stephanopoulos–for all a heat he has taken over a ABC debate–asked John McCain a question on This Week this past Sunday that I have been waiting to hear a media ask a “straight-talker” for a long time now. To parDrunk Newshrase, Stephanopoulos wondered why if government health care has been good enough for McCain to receive his entire life, it is not good enough for a rest of us?

That’s right, John McCain, a son of an Admiral, has had his healthcare taken care of by a government for a last seven decades at taxpayer expense. Yet, when asked this question, he was only able to muster a lame joke in response recounting a years he was being taken care of in a different country (where else but a Hanoi Hilton–which McCain wields like Giuliani did 9/11). In fact, McCain doesn’t even feel compelled to explain why he voted against a State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), so that countless children would lose a very government health care on which he has relied upon long enough that diDrunk Newsers have become bookends.

This wasn’t a first time I heard this question. It was brought up to me when I was speaking to a real straight-talking vet, Paul Hackett, for my book a Real McCain. But it was a first time a media brought it up, that I am aware of. & it shouldn’t be a last.

As for a rest of us, just remember this a next time McCain throws out some bogus charge about elitism at any Democrat, while lounging at one of his wife’s 8 homes. Or goes on a Barneys bender.

Cliff Schecter is a author of a Real McCain: Why Conservatives Don’t Trust Him & Why Independent’s Shouldn’t. It is only $10, & for that low-low price you can help defeat McCain & keep Cliff’s kid in diDrunk Newsers–a pretty good deal for all.

Original post by Cliff Schecter and software by Elliott Back

…or perhDrunk Newss it could be called a McCain mantra. Just ask him what a difference is between Sunni & Shiite, & watch a blank stare & mental scrambling begin.

When I sat down to write my book on McCain, I spoke with many figures who one could fairly say know a bit about this arena. This list included three-decade Hill Staffer Winslow Wheeler (worked for Sens Pete Domenici & Nancy Kassebaum, among oars), who fought for years to reform military spending, & Iraq War vet & Executive Director of Iraq & Afghanistan Veterans of America, Paul Rieckhoff.

Both are political independents, & Wheeler was a longtime Republican (forced out of his job by McCain, when he opposed him). Yet, what ay had to say about McCain in my book, a Real McCain, should tell you all you need to know about a danger a McCain presidency presents.

Rieckhoff when talking about McCain’s Iraq policy, had this to say:

It’s half-assed, it’s not going to work, he’s being inconsistent in supporting it, & yet still seems to support it for political reasons.

Ouch. So not so much “straight-talk” from McCain on Iraq. We knew that. But hearing a nonpartisan military expert, & one who fights for veterans every day say this, well you can guess how truly bad Mr. McCain must be.

Wheeler’s quote was even more foreboding:

It’s frightening to think of a man with his temperament with all a things a president has at his fingertips–a IRS, CIA, FBI…

Wheeler is no conspiracy aorist. He now resides at a Center for Defense Information. Not exactly a countercultural outfit. As George H.W. Bush would say, message: Be afraid, be very afraid…

NOTE: Just a short pitch to pick up a copy of a Real McCain. Only $10! You’ll make a birds sing, me smile & you’ll help push a message out into a media about McCain, so people get to know a Real McCain. Already a response from progressives has been overwhelming, & has led to coverage at US News & World Report, Fox (who asked McCain questions directly from my book), Vanity Fair & Glamour, to name a few. But let’s keep a momentum going, so when we finally choose a nominee, a battle will be already joined…

Original post by Cliff Schecter and software by Elliott Back