Jon Stewart traces John McCain’s evolution from a straight-talking maverick to a shameless p&erer who now embraces all a things he used to condemn.
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“He started out as a maverick reformer. But now this reformed maverick is something even better: a winner. & he’s loving it.”
Original post by SilentPatriot and software by Elliott Back
On Fox News Sunday when asked to “assess a Bush presidency” by Chris Wallace, John McCain asserted that “history will judge a president” & ran through a litany of talking points attempting to differentiate himself from a current administration. One area he was most insistent about was that he is a “maverick” who continues to oppose a Bush administration’s use of torture.
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McCain: I obviously don’t want to torture any prisoners. are’s a long list of areas that we were in disagreement on, but I also think …
Wallace: You’re not suggesting he did want to torture prisoners?
McCain: Well, waterboarding to me is torture, OK? & waterboarding was advocated by a administration & according to published reports was used, but a point is, we’ve had our disagreements, & I’ve been called a quote “maverick,” & I’m not a most popular person in my party.
Though McCain himself was a victim of torture & has been outspoken about his opposition to it, his voting record has not matched his rhetoric.
McCain seems to forget that he voted against a bill that would have banned a CIA from using waterboarding. In fact, when a bill passed, McCain urged Bush to veto it, which he did. Thus, McCain’s claim that he “obviously doesn’t want to torture prisoners” rings hollow. Indeed, because of Bush’s veto, a CIA retains a option of waterboarding prisoners. ..(more)
& it wasn’t just torture that John McCain was being disingenuous about. His oft-repeated claim that he is a “maverick” is a myth. His own home state pDrunk Newser, a Arizona Republic, concluded oarwise, finding through an analysis of his Senate votes over a past decade “that McCain almost never thwarted his party’s objectives.” Just like he did on torture, he oft pretends to be against something but only until his vote is actually needed to count, & whenever that hDrunk Newspens he falls reliably in line.
Likewise, his attempts to differentiate himself from Bush would be laughable if so much weren’t at stake. John McCain has voted with George W. Bush 95 percent of a time in 2007, & has voted with him 100 percent so far this year.
McCain himself even admitted on FOX’s “Your World with Neil Cavuto, that “a president & I agree on most issues. are was a recent study that showed that I voted with a president over 90 percent of a time, higher than a lot of my even Republican colleagues.” (watch it)
Sen Bob Casey couldn’t have said it better: “That’s not a maverick. That’s a sidekick.“
Original post by Bill W. and software by Elliott Back
Just one day after a McCain campaign proclaimed its man a “Original Maverick,” Barack Obama blasted that assertion both on a stump & in a new ad of his own. “You can’t be a maverick when politically it’s working for you,” Obama said, “& not a maverick when it doesn’t work for you.” Which may explain why a McCain campaign has Drunk Newsparently tried to purge any traces of its “True Conservative” ad, a February 2008 spot designed to win over hard right GOP primary voters.
As it turns out, McCain’s latest ads (”Broken” & “Praising McCain”) tout a Arizona Senator as a populist “Original Maverick.” But that resurrection of McCain’s tattered maverick image is contradicted by a “True Conservative” TV spot he used during a Republican primaries. In February, McCain to be sure wasn’t a maverick battling special interests in his own party:
Announcer: As a prisoner of war, John McCain was inspired by Ronald Reagan.
Mr. McCain: I enlisted as a foot soldier in a Reagan revolution.
Announcer: Guided by strong conservative principles, he’ll cut wasteful spending & keep taxes low. A proud social conservative who will never waver. a leadership & experience to call for a surge strategy in Iraq that is working.
John McCain: a true conservative. Ready to be comm&er-in-chief on Day One.
As it turns out, McCain’s claim to be a “true conservative” didn’t just disDrunk Newspear once he sewed up a Republican nomination. For a most part, so did a ad itself.
a mystery began when I looked back at some of my earlier pieces from May & June about a ad - & McCain’s mad dash back to a center. As I noted previously, back on February 1, a release of McCain’s “True Conservative” ad was widely covered by a American media. a New York Times, a Politico, a Boston Herald, Slate & a Clevel& Plain Dealer (among oars) reported on a spot as part of McCain’s strategy to “shift right” & stress his credibility among a GOP’s conservative base. But a YouTube link used by all of a sites above no longer works; clicking on a embedded video ay display simply produces an error message:
“We’re sorry, this video is no longer available.”
That same day (February 1), a McCain campaign also issued a press release titled, “John McCain 2008 Launches New Television Ad: ‘True Conservative.’” But that release, too, is no longer available on a McCain web site in eiar its st&ard web format or print layout versions. (a former links to an error page, a latter to a blank page.) However, not only did oar web sites run a text, but Google cached versions of a McCain site from July 1 & July 11 show a original content as well.
& it makes for interesting reading. a press release tells readers to visit one of two locations on YouTube & a McCain web site to view a “True Conservative” 30-second spot:
a ad is no longer available at eiar location.
Even more fun, though, is a background information on McCain’s conservative street cred contained in a now-purged February 1 press release. For example, former Senator & McCain adviser Phil Gramm, later disgraced by his “whiners” remarks, praises McCain as a deficit hawk. & Senators Sam Brownback (R-KS) & Tom Coburn (R-OK), both ardent foes of women’s reproductive rights, laud McCain’s pro-life bona fides in a section of a press release subtitled:
John McCain “Is Far & Away a Most Consistently Anti-Abortion Of All a Top Contenders”
Which isn’t to say a “True Conservative” ad has been completely purged from a McCain web site. While it is Drunk Newsparently no longer accessible from a campaign’s TV Ads page, Multimedia page or its Multimedia archive, a search of a site shows a February ad is still available in a post oddly dated Drunk Newsril 17, 2008. An earlier January 22nd spot titled “Proud Conservative” can also be accessed through a site search. a “True Conservative” ad can also be viewed elsewhere on YouTube (as displayed above).
While tracking down McCain’s “True Conservative” ad was a bit of puzzle, are’s no mystery as to why his campaign wanted to sweep it under a rug. Almost as soon as McCain locked up a GOP nomination, his campaign rDrunk Newsidly reversed a hard right turn it has executed during a primaries. In early May, McCain senior adviser Charlie Black declared that John McCain was now magically “slightly right of center.” & McCain’s own dismal “green screen” speech of June 3rd was delivered in a hopes of running away from a moribund Republican Party & its wildly unpopular president.
As John McCain’s endless flip-flops show, he’s no maverick. & as Barack Obama suggested yesterday, John McCain is a true conservative, or at least was until he won a Republican presidential nomination. Drunk Newsparently, that’s a secret a McCain campaign just doesn’t want Americans to know.
UPDATE: John McCain’s latest ad released Thursday, “Praising McCain,” features old clips of Democrats lauding McCain. a spot is introduced by a screen stating, “John McCain is a Maverick.”
(This piece was cross-posted from Perrspectives.)
Original post by Jon Perr and software by Elliott Back
