Thread: McCain Campaign

http://www.usnews.com/blogs/capital-...eat-obama.html

McCain on offshore drilling:
For it before he was against it before he was for it again

Just a recap: McCain was AWOL on the windfall profits tax debate in the Senate (a failed Carter relic that he says he’d be “glad to look at”).

He had nothing to say about Rep. John Peterson’s effort to lift the offshore drilling ban when it was up for a vote last week. And as I noted back on May 22, he has channeled the entire Democrat presidential field’s class warfare rhetoric and repeatedly referred to the oil industry’s “obscene profits.”

Now, he’s announced he wants to lift the offshore drilling moratorium and will give an energy speech tomorrow. He was for it before he was against it before he was for it again. http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5g...uDksAD9176M8O0

Positively Kerryesque:

Oh, and if you thought for a moment that McCain might back off his Hillary/Edwards/Obama-esque bashing of profits, think again:

With the price of gasoline surging past $4 a gallon in many parts of the country, Senator John McCain called today for the lifting of the federal moratorium on offshore oil drilling for states that want to permit it.

He said that he also favors giving states incentives to allow exploration, part of an energy proposal that he said would be “very helpful in the short term for resolving our energy crisis.”

Mr. McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, said the impact of high fuel prices was hitting Americans, not only at the pump, but also in the form of rising food prices and threats of inflation.

“We must embark on a national mission to eliminate our dependence on foreign oil and reduce greenhouse gases through the development of alternate energy sources,” Mr. McCain said, adding that he continues to support a summer gas tax holiday.

Mr. McCain has a mixed record on the issue in the Senate. In 2001 and 2006, he voted in favor of offshore oil drilling in Florida, but in 2003 he voted against it in Florida and other states. Mr. McCain has consistently opposed drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

McCain is set to give a speech about energy to oil executives in Houston Tuesday, where he is expected to chide the industry for the huge profits they have made during a tough time for gasoline consumers.

Flashback: Reagan vs. McCain on profits, business, and the free market
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5g...uDksAD9176M8O0

delivered 10 November 1977, Hillsdale College, Hillsdale MI

( The entire article is 42610 characters and every word worth the read ....)

Voters say McCain better suited to handle Iraq than Obama
By JIM KUHNHENN, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — John McCain's stance on the war is unambiguous: He voted for it, supports the current enhanced U.S. troop presence in Iraq and vigorously opposes any timetable to withdraw.

The public's stance on the war is as equivocal as McCain's is not: A strong majority of Americans oppose it and believe it was wrong in the first place, but more find McCain better suited to handle Iraq than his Democratic presidential rival, Barack Obama.

"He's more experienced militarily," said Ann Burkes, a registered Democrat and retired third-grade teacher from Broken Arrow, Okla. "And I don't know if I agree with stay-the-course (policy), but I think the good probably outweighs the bad with him, experience-wise."

Burkes illustrates the conflicted voter, one who is as likely to be influenced by McCain's policy positions as by his personal biography as a former Navy pilot who spent more than five years in a North Vietnamese prison.

For McCain, there is a major complication. Not all those voters who perceive him as stronger on Iraq say they will vote for him for president.

Unlike the 2004 presidential contest, this is not shaping up as a national security election. Neither the war nor terrorism is foremost in the public's mind. The economy and energy prices are the pre-eminent issues of the day. And on those, Obama has the edge.

Still, this hate-the-war, love-the-warrior strain runs through the American electorate. In a new Associated Press-Yahoo! News poll, more than one out of five of the respondents who said they opposed the war also said they support McCain for president. The sentiment does not discriminate by gender or by age. Most significantly, it splits independent voters in favor of McCain.

Respondents said McCain would do a better job in Iraq than Obama by a margin of 39 percent to 33 percent. Undergirding that response is a strong sentiment that McCain would be a better leader of the military than Obama. One out of three respondents said that description matched McCain "very well," whereas only one out of 10 said the same of Obama, who did not serve in the armed forces.

The Iraq findings track McCain's advantage on the issue of terrorism. Of those surveyed, more than twice as many believe McCain can better handle terrorism than Obama. As such, McCain is emerging clearly as a candidate of national security, a conventional role for a Republican.

The public's views about Iraq are especially notable because many voters appear to separate McCain's past record of support for the war from their perception of his performance as a military leader. What's more, it points to a potential Obama vulnerability.

Only 6 percent of those who say they will vote for Obama say McCain would do a better job on Iraq. But among "weak" Obama supporters, that figure rises to 15 percent. Moreover, among undecided voters, McCain is preferred 25 percent to 15 percent over Obama on Iraq.

Leeann Ormsbee, a registered Democrat from Waterford, Pa., believes the United States rushed to war, but now does not believe troops should simply withdraw. The 29-year-old self-employed house cleaner says she has never voted for a Republican. She might this time.

"I do believe that he will do better in Iraq," she said of McCain. "Because he's served in the military and he has said we can't just pull out. ... I think we're just kind of stuck with it now and we have to finish."

Republican pollster Neil Newhouse calls these voters "nose-holders."

"They don't like the fact that we're over there, they don't think the decision was the right one, but they understand that if we simply withdraw our troops it would leave things worse off," he said.

Aware that national security is one of McCain's strongest features, Democrats and their allies have tried to portray his Iraq stance as a mere continuation of President Bush's policy. They have seized on his comments earlier this year when he speculated that U.S. troops could remain in Iraq for 100 years. Though he was talking about a presence of non-combat troops akin to those in South Korea, the remark has been used against him in television commercials.

Earlier this month, McCain kicked off his general election advertising campaign with an ad that featured his and his family's military service and his years in captivity but cast him as a man with a distaste for war.

"Only a fool or a fraud talks tough or romantically about war," he says in the ad.

McCain supported the resolution in 2002 that allowed Bush to use force in Iraq. He later criticized then-Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld for his management of the war and went on to become one of the Senate's leading advocates of last year's buildup of troops. He has said he could envision troops withdrawing around 2013 but has refused to fix a date.

"We were losing in Iraq; now we're winning," he has said.

The troop expansion, which is about to end, has left Iraq safer and given Iraqi forces greater responsibility for security. But Pentagon and congressional reports issued this week also warned that the gains are delicate and could be reversed.

McCain's Iraq advantage could evaporate if violence and chaos resurface and U.S. casualties mount. Conversely, even greater successes in the country could make withdrawing troops more palatable.

Obama has argued that the troop buildup has not helped resolve Iraq's political problems. He wants to remove all combat brigades from Iraq within 16 months of becoming president. But he has said that if al-Qaida builds bases in Iraq, he would keep troops in the country or in the region to carry out "targeted strikes."

"As the American people get to know Obama and McCain better, they will see that the difference is Obama's desire to fundamentally change American policy in Iraq and John McCain wants to continue George Bush's policy," Obama spokesman Bill Burton said.

Democratic pollster Anna Greenberg said the evidence of improvements this year presents a double-edged sword for McCain and Obama.

"Obviously, people don't like the war in Iraq; they want it to be over and they don't like all the money we're spending there," she said. "On the other hand, people also don't want to retreat or lose. ... In 2006, (the public's view of the war) was much more clearly a net positive for Democrats. I think the landscape has changed."

At the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, which has also polled on Iraq and the presidential candidates, associate director Michael Dimock said the public has a perception that McCain "is not completely on board with Bush."

What's more, he said, Obama faces lingering concerns about his experience, about not being tested and about not having foreign policy experience -- themes Hillary Rodham Clinton pushed during their prolonged primary contest.

"What you see is that Americans themselves are conflicted about Iraq," he added. "They are very hesitant to say that we need to get out now. They understand the complexity of this situation."

— Associated Press Director of Surveys Trevor Tompson, and AP writers Christine Simmons and Natasha Metzler contributed to this article.

http://news.yahoo.com/page/election-...4wJ9DmORSs0NUE

Wesley Clark won't back off critique of McCain
By DAVID ESPO, AP Special Correspondent
2 hours, 10 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - Retired General Wesley Clark rejected suggestions he apologize Tuesday for saying John McCain's medal-winning military service does not qualify him for the White House. Elaborating, Clark said a president must have judgment, not merely courage and character.

Barack Obama, the Democratic presidential hopeful, said Clark's comments had been inartful. McCain said Obama should go further than that. "I think the time has come for Sen. Obama to not just repudiate Gen. Clark, but to cut him loose," McCain said en route to Colombia.

One ally of the Republican presidential contender accused Obama of "winking and nodding" when he should be condemning Clark and his comments. "This is now about Obama, not Wesley Clark," added Orson Swindle on a conference call with reporters organized by the McCain's campaign.

Swindle, a retired colonel and — like McCain — prisoner of war in Vietnam, added that Obama should tell his surrogates to "knock this crap off."

Clark set off the controversy Sunday when he said McCain's wartime experience as a Navy pilot and his command of an air squadron in peacetime did not provide him with experience needed to become president. "I don't think riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to be president," he added at the time.

McCain frequently emphasizes his military service as he campaigns for the White House. Obama, who did not serve in the military, frequently cites his opposition to the 2003 invasion of Iraq as evidence of the judgment needed in a commander in chief.

Despite criticism from Republicans, Clark declined to back down in an interview Tuesday morning with ABC. "The experience that he had as a fighter pilot isn't the same as having been at the highest levels of the military and having to make ... life or death decisions about national, strategic issues," he said.

Asked whether he felt he owed McCain an apology, Clark responded, "I'm very sorry that this has distracted from the message of patriotism that Sen. Obama wants to put out."

Later, in a National Public Radio interview, Clark was asked about his statements in 2004 that Sen. John Kerry, the Democratic presidential candidate, had "heard the thump of enemy mortars. He's seen the flash of tracers" and could lead in a time of war. "I think that you can always cite a candidate's service in the armed forces as a testimony to his character and his courage. But I don't think early service justifies moving away from looking at a candidate's judgment," he replied.

McCain's campaign responded with its second conference call by surrogates on this subject in two days.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., rebutted Clark's claim by arguing that McCain's years as a prisoner of war and the mistreatment he endured made him uniquely qualified to lead the campaign in the Senate to ban the use of torture in the interrogation of detainees in the war on terror. "Nobody could have taken the floor and spoken about detainee policy" the same way, Graham added.

Obama, campaigning in Ohio, said he did not believe Clark's intent was the same as critics who four years ago challenged Kerry's account of his own wartime service in Vietnam. The so-called Swift Boat ads are widely blamed by Democrats for playing a role in Kerry's defeat. "I don't think that Gen. Clark had the same intent as the Swift Boat ads of four years ago. I reject that analogy," Obama said.

He said McCain "deserves the utmost honor and respect for his service to our country."

At the same time, he said his admonishment — in a Monday speech on patriotism — against devaluing McCain's military service had been in early drafts of the speech, and was not added at the last minute in response to Clark. "The question is why, given all the vast numbers of things that we've got to work on, that would be a top priority of mine," he said. "The fact that somebody on a cable show or on a news show, like Gen. Clark, said something that was inartful about John McCain, I don't think is what is keeping Ohioans up at night," he said.

On Monday, Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton said, "Sen. Obama honors and respects Sen. McCain's service, and of course he rejects yesterday's statement by Gen. Clark."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080702/...zWK01LNeys0NUE

Military see 2008 race through different lens
By NANCY BENAC, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — Brandon Ziegler served two tours in Iraq and wears a bracelet inscribed with the name of an Army buddy who never made it home. Jim Morin saw action in both Iraq and Afghanistan, and has lost several friends to the war in Iraq, the latest just a month ago.

Both say their choice in the 2008 presidential election is clear: for Ziegler, it will be John McCain; for Morin, it will be Barack Obama.

Those viewing the presidential race through the lens of military service can bring it into focus differently: The desire to quickly get out of Iraq is balanced against the hope to see the country stabilized; respect for one candidate's storied military history is weighed against another's relative youth; concern about the war's drain on the U.S. Treasury is measured against the wish for expanded benefits for new veterans.

Sizing up the candidates as the nation prepares to celebrate Independence Day, retired Sgt. Maj. Ronald Friday in South Carolina laughs and predicts "it's going to be an interesting summer." Put him in the undecided column.

McCain, with a family tradition of military service and his own history as a decorated Vietnam prisoner of war, holds natural appeal for members of the military and veterans. Indeed, an AP-Yahoo News poll conducted last month (in June), found that veterans favored McCain over Obama 49 percent to 32 percent, while the two candidates ran about even in the population as a whole. Three-fourths of veterans in the survey thought McCain would be a good leader of the military, compared to one-fourth who thought likewise of Obama.

Nonetheless, dissatisfaction with the course of the war under President Bush and with the treatment of veterans returning home has given Obama, who did not serve in the armed forces, an opening with military voters and veterans, as does his appeal to younger people.

That Obama attracts support from some in the military is evident in dollars and cents: Among people who have donated at least $200 to a presidential campaign this election cycle, Obama has collected more than $327,000 from those identifying themselves as military personnel, while McCain has collected $224,000, according to an analysis of Federal Election Commission data by The Associated Press.

It is in the voices of recent veterans and, to a lesser extent, of those still serving in the military, that the McCain vs. Obama debate comes alive _ although most active-duty personnel are loath to air their views publicly because they are discouraged from mixing in politics.

Friday, who retired last year after serving as the top command sergeant major at Fort Jackson in South Carolina, said he doesn't want either candidate to take his vote for granted, based on his race or his career. "I don't want anyone to think that because he (Obama) is of the African-American heritage that he automatically has my vote, or that McCain will get it because I was in the military," said Friday, who is black.

Friday, 49, added that he understands what McCain meant when he said the United States could have troops in Iraq for 100 years, but he doesn't necessarily support the statement. Still, he predicted, "We will be in Iraq until death do we part."

Such talk rankles Sgt. Kenyon Ralph, 24, of San Diego. Ralph, a Marine reservist who served in Iraq twice, is a member of Iraq Veterans Against The War, and is backing Obama.

Ralph, once a registered Republican who twice voted for President Bush, says he gradually turned against the war, and now says he can't bring himself to vote for someone who supports keeping troops in Iraq. "What did he say? One hundred years or something," Ralph said of McCain. "We've got five down and 95 more years to go."

Sgt. Maj. Brent Dick, a 35-year-old career soldier stationed at Fort Bliss in Texas, hasn't decided who he'll vote for in November, but he agrees with McCain's stance on Iraq. "I favor staying there until we are done with our mission," said Dick. He said the candidates' plans for Iraq will be one deciding factor in his vote, but the weakening economy also is a huge concern.

Dick, who served in Afghanistan, said McCain's military service and his time as a prisoner of war are pushing him toward the senator from Arizona. "I think that means something for their character," said Dick, interviewed as he and his 8-year-old son got ready to play golf on a recent afternoon at the Fort Bliss golf course.

Not far away, standing outside his off-post home after work, Darrell Warren, a 41-year-old staff sergeant at Fort Bliss, said he's also on the fence, but leaning the other way. "I'm a Democrat," said Warren, who served three tours in Iraq. He said that while the war will be an issue for him in picking a president, he doesn't see military service as a must. "They don't necessarily have to have served in the military to know about it," he said.

Ziegler, interviewed in the library at Kutztown University in Pennsylvania after attending a night class, sees three reasons to vote for McCain entwined in the Republican's military service: He connects to McCain as a war veteran, believes it makes sense during wartime to have a president who's served, and says McCain's POW history speaks to the quality of his character.

As for Obama, says Ziegler: "He's new and he's young. He's got what seem like new ideas. I don't think now's the right time for that, being that we are in Iraq."

By contrast, Morin, whose 10 years in the military included four years as a West Point cadet, thinks Obama has the most "comprehensive solutions to complex problems" in Iraq and Afghanistan. He also said he was disappointed by McCain's opposition to an expansion of the GI bill that would offer full military scholarships for those who serve three years in the military. "I have a lot of respect for McCain," says Morin. "Everyone in the military is going to tell you that." But then he adds: "I don't think he has anything new to offer. His mind-set is really stuck maybe in the Vietnam era, and the conflicts we're facing now have nothing to do with Vietnam."

Richard Topping, a former Army JAG officer who spent more than five years on active duty, said McCain's military record is impressive, but he finds the senator's open-ended commitment to Iraq troubling. "I care far more about the economy, which has me leaning left this election," said Topping, who works as a Justice Department attorney. "Time for new people and new ideas here in D.C."

McCain has plenty of brass speaking out for his candidacy: While active-duty military personnel are expected to keep out of politics, more than 100 former generals and admirals have endorsed the Republican candidate.

Richard Kohn, a professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill who has studied the gap between military and civilian attitudes and culture, said that while members of the military, particularly the officer corps, in recent decades have favored Republicans, the enlisted force is much more politically balanced. And Kohn said there are signs that "the shine has probably worn off the Republican brand to some degree among the military," in part because of discontent with Bush over foreign policy and veterans' issues.

In what may be one sign of the trend, individuals who identified themselves as members of the uniformed services have donated 38 percent of their dollars to Democratic candidates, party committees and leadership PACs so far this election cycle, compared to 22 percent during the 2000 campaign overall, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a Washington-based group that tracks political campaign money.

http://news.yahoo.com/page/election-...ilitary-voices

Originally Posted by Jolie Rouge

Elaborating, Clark said a president must have judgment, not merely courage and character.

Sadly, Clark doesn't seem have any of the three ...

http://www.bigbigforums.com/news-inf...et-2004-a.html

http://www.zpub.com/un/clark.html

http://musing-minds.com/2006/12/28/c...am-unpleasant/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wesley_Clark

Telling moments, or trivial pursuits?
Fri Jul 18, 12:20 AM ET

Eight seconds of dead air is an eternity on TV, so when Republican presidential candidate John McCain struggled that long to answer a reporter who had just asked whether it's fair that some health insurance plans cover Viagra for men but not birth control medication for women, it drew plenty of attention. It even spawned an attack ad from Planned Parenthood.

"I'll try to get back to you on it," McCain finally gasped, ducking another question about how he had voted against requiring insurance companies that pay for erectile dysfunction drugs to also pay for birth control.

Revealing gaffe or inconsequential flub?

Senior moment or understandable lapse?


Because most of what voters see are speeches, TV ads and interviews in which the contenders rarely stray off message, it's no wonder that these little unscripted moments loom so large. Opponents mine them for their "gotcha" value, of course, but voters also get — or sometimes only think they get — a little clue about what the guy is really like.

McCain, a risk-taker since he flew jets on and off aircraft carriers, provides more of these than Democratic candidate Barack Obama, whose careful style only occasionally cracks — such as when he told an audience of wealthy campaign donors that blue-collar whites "cling" to guns and religion.

McCain provided more grist for the mill in a candid interview published Sunday in The New York Times. He revealed that he's just barely able to use the Internet and never uses e-mail. Does that reinforce perceptions that, at 71, he's too old to adapt to changes around him — or is it irrelevant for someone who wouldn't be e-mailing in the Oval Office?

In the same interview, McCain said he opposed adoptions by gay couples, raising a question about whether as president he'd seek to ban them. After furious protests, he retreated to the safe answer he has given on other polarizing cultural issues, such as gay marriage: It's up to the states to decide, not the federal government. Deliberate wink to cultural conservatives on a defining issue, or meaningless slip?

Whatever you make of such moments — and we would have preferred a more inclusive view on gay adoption — they shouldn't be made too much of. They usually have more to do with politics than with governance.

In one of the most dangerous times in decades for the United States — with a faltering economy, out-of-control oil prices, a persistent terrorist threat and two wars — what matters is how the candidates approach issues of peace and prosperity, not whether they know how to reply to an e-mail or a question about Viagra.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/usatoday/200...tDzum7wESs0NUE

McCain gaffes pile up; critics pile on
Jim VandeHei, Mike Allen
Tue Jul 22, 6:13 AM ET



Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said “Iraq” when he apparently meant “Afghanistan” on Monday, adding to a string of mixed-up word choices that is giving ammunition to the opposition.

Just in the past three weeks, McCain has also mistaken "Somalia" for "Sudan," and even football’s Green Bay Packers for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Ironically, the errors have been concentrated in what should be his area of expertise: foreign affairs.

McCain will turn 72 the day after Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) accepts his party’s nomination for president, calling new attention to the sensitive issue of McCain’s advanced age three days before the start of his own convention.

The McCain campaign says Obama has had plenty of flubs of his own, including a reference to "57 states" and a string of misstated place names during the primaries that Republicans gleefully sent around as YouTube links.

McCain aides point out that he spends much more time than Obama talking extemporaneously, taking questions from voters and reporters. "Being human and tripping over your tongue occasionally doesn't mean a thing," a top McCain official said.

But McCain's mistakes raise a serious, if uncomfortable question: Are the gaffes the result of his age? And what could that mean in the Oval Office?

Voters, thinking about their own relatives, can be expected to scrutinize McCain’s debate performances for signs of slippage.

Every voter has a parent, grandparent or a friend whose mental acuity declined as they grew older. It happens at different times for different people — and there is ample evidence many in their 70s are as sharp and fit as ever.

In McCain’s case, his medical records, public appearances and travel schedule have suggested he remains at the top of his game.

But his liberal critics have been pouncing on every misstatement as a sign that he’s an old man.

Already, late-night comics have made McCain’s age an almost nightly topic, with CBS’s David Letterman getting a laugh just about any time he says the words “McCain” and “nap” in the same sentence.

Last week, McCain tried to defuse the issue by pretending to doze off during an appearance with NBC’s Conan O’Brien.

Republicans would like to make the case that McCain is seasoned and Obama is a callow newcomer to the public stage. But that’ll be harder if he keeps up the verbal slips, which make it easier for comedians and critics to pile on.

“First Gaffe of Obama Trip ... Goes To McCain,” blared Monday afternoon’s banner headline on the left-leaning Huffington Post, accompanied by a photo of McCain appearing to slap his forehead.

That referred to an ABCNews.com posting asserting that McCain appeared to confuse Iraq and Afghanistan in a “Good Morning America” interview with ABC’s Diane Sawyer, who asked whether the "the situation in Afghanistan is precarious and urgent.”

McCain responded: “I'm afraid it's a very hard struggle, particularly given the situation on the Iraq/Pakistan border," McCain said. The ABC posting added: “Iraq and Pakistan do not share a border. Afghanistan and Pakistan do.”

Unfortunately for McCain, that wasn’t an isolated slip. Among the other lapses:

• “Somalia” for “Sudan” — As recounted in a reporter’s pool report from McCain’s Straight Talk Express bus on June 30, the senator said while discussing Darfur, a region of Sudan: "How can we bring pressure on the government of Somalia?"

Senior adviser Mark Salter corrected him: “Sudan.”

• “Germany” for “Russia” — A YouTube clip from last year memorializes McCain referring to Vladimir Putin of Russia — following a trip to Germany — as “President Putin of Germany.”

• This spring, McCain said troops in Iraq were “down to pre-surge levels” when in fact there were 20,000 more troops than when the surge policy began.

• Also this spring, McCain twice appeared to mistake Sunnis and Shiites, two branches of Islam that split violently.

• In Phoenix earlier this month, McCain referred to "Czechoslovakia,” which has been divided since Jan. 1, 1993, into the Czech Republic and Slovakia. He also referred to Czechoslovakia during a debate in November and a radio show in April.

• In perhaps the most curious incident, McCain said earlier this month that as a prisoner of war in Vietnam, he had tried to confuse his captors by giving the names of Pittsburgh Steelers starting players when asked to identify his squadron mates. McCain has told the story many times over the years — but had always referred correctly to the names he gave as members of the Green Bay Packers.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/200...T.EboF2J6s0NUE

10 Questions to Test Your Allegiance to John McCain

Are you a true believer in John McCain, or do you think he's fatally flawed? Perhaps you're still struggling to make up your mind. Take this quiz and we'll gauge your level of support for the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.

http://politicalhumor.about.com/libr...ccain_quiz.htm

Q: What statement best describes your opinion of John McCain?

He's a true patriot who will keep America safe
He's a trigger-happy hothead who will start World War III
He's a straight-talking maverick who tells it like it is
He's a liberal Trojan horse who will betray his party's principles
He's a disaster-in-waiting who is running for Bush's third term

Q : : David Letterman says John McCain "looks like the guy at the movies whose wife has to repeat everything. He looks like the guy at the supermarket who is confused by the automatic doors. He looks like a guy who's backed over his own mailbox."

Agree
Disagree

: What bumper sticker would you be most likely to put on your car?

McCainiac
No Country For Old Men
Yes Mac Can
McSame: Four More Wars!
NObama '08
Old Is The New Hope
John McCain: 100 Years of War in '08
McCain '08: Proven Leadership So We Don't Have to Hope
Vote McCain...or the Vietcong Have Won
Don't Blame Me - I Voted for Huckabee

Q uring his first 100 days, John McCain would ___

Continue the path Bush has charted to peace and prosperity
Continue the path Bush has charted to Armageddon
Restore America's image in the world
Launch simultaneous wars against Iran and North Korea
Unmask himself as a closet liberal
Kick the bucket

Q: When John McCain was asked whether it was time to attack Iran and answered by singing "Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran" to the tune of the Beach Boys' "Barbara Ann", it showed that:

He has a playful sense of humor
He has a demented sense of humor
He won't hesitate to take on our enemies
He's a few fries short of a happy meal
He's more megalomaniacal than Cheney
He's better suited for "American Idol" than the presidency

Q: Which of the following phrases best describes John McCain?

McSame as Bush
Candidate of McChange
Courageous maverick
Republican in name only
Short-fused warmonger
Wise elder statement
Senile old gasbag
Honest straight-talker
Horseman of the apocalypse

Q: What is the worst possible thing that could come of a McCain presidency?

He extends Iraq troop deployments to 110 years
He throws a temper tantrum and nukes Keith Olbermann
Liberals in Congress block every part of his agenda
He governs like Ted Kennedy and inspires like Joe Lieberman
Vice President Rice takes over in accordance with the 25th Amendment
He pardons Bush and Cheney for their war crimes

Q: John McCain's supporters can best be described as ___

Proud conservative
Faux conservatives
Freedom-loving fighters
War and recession enthusiasts
Flag-waving everymen
Country club elites
Independent-minded mavericks
Confused Depends-wearers
Republicans with no other options

Q: Which of the following do you find most offensive?

Someone who refuses to wear a flag lapel pin
Someone who vows to stay in Iraq 100 years
Someone who was against torture before he was for it
Someone who cavorts with a pastor who wants God to damn America
Someone who cavorts with a pastor who wants the U.S. to attack Iran to fulfill the biblical prophecy of Armageddon

Q: John McCain is so old his first American flag pin had 13 stars. He's so old his social security number is 1. He's so old his biography is arranged by geological era. He's so old that it takes an archaeologist to dig up dirt on him.

Agree
Disagree

A guide to 5 key campaign flip-flops
Kenneth P. Vogel
Tue Aug 5, 8:51 PM ET

In the latest salvo in the war on inconsistency, Barack Obama is being accused of flip-flopping on the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

But the presidential race has featured so many alleged flip-flops by either Obama or John McCain — on issues ranging from tax cuts to offshore drilling, wiretapping to campaign cash — that the charge itself is in danger of losing some of its potency. It’s becoming increasingly difficult to determine on which issues the candidates have actually reversed their positions, and whether their shifts were indeed motivated by political expediency (the implication behind most flip-flop charges) or changing circumstances.

Politico, in conjunction with PolitiFact, a partnership between the St. Petersburg Times and Congressional Quarterly, sorts through the charges to get to the truth of five key flip-flop allegations.

Obama on the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and offshore drilling

Obama’s announcement this week that he supports tapping a national stockpile of crude oil reverses a position he articulated as recently as last month, when he asserted that oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve should only be released in case of emergency.

His campaign explained his new position, which calls for releasing 70 million barrels of easy-to-refine light oil, by asserting the situation had reached a tipping point and explaining that Obama would replace the barrels later with heavier crude oil.

The shift came just days after Obama dialed back his opposition to drilling for oil off U.S. shores. He said he’d consider supporting limited drilling as part of a comprehensive gas-price-reduction effort, but only after oil companies looked for oil on 68 million untapped acres to which they have access.

PolitiFact ranked the Strategic Petroleum Reserve reversal a “full flop” on its new Flip-O-Meter, unveiled Tuesday, but rated the offshore drilling shift a less-severe “half-flip.”

McCain on offshore drilling

McCain’s recent support for offshore drilling is actually not as stark of a flip-flop as has been portrayed.

It’s true that McCain never actively pushed for it until this summer, but there is scant evidence that he opposed it or supported a federal moratorium on it.

Two California newspaper stories from his 2000 presidential run paraphrase McCain as supporting the moratorium, but many more accounts include direct quotations in which McCain says he would support states’ decisions on whether they want to drill.

In February 2000, McCain said, “I understand Texans want offshore oil drilling. That’s fine with me. Off Florida, they don’t. I think that we should allow these decisions, to some degree to be made — significant degree to be made by the people who are directly affected by them.”

As for his voting record, McCain in 2003 was among 10 Republicans who voted to call off a survey and inventory of possible offshore oil and natural gas deposits. And in 2006, he voted to authorize drilling in about 8.3-million acres of the eastern Gulf of Mexico, off the coasts of Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas.

However, in 1992, McCain voted against an amendment that would have increased coastal states’ input in federal government decisions about offshore drilling.

Still, the shift from his states-rights position to offshore-drilling cheerleader warranted a half-flip from PolitiFact.

Obama on public financing

Obama clearly reversed himself in June when he announced he would not participate in the public financing system, which grants taxpayer cash — this year it’s $84 million — to presidential candidates who agree not to raise or spend more than that during their general election campaigns.

Obama had indicated he would participate in the system if the Republican nominee agreed to do the same, which McCain has done. Obama’s campaign told Politico in March 2007 he would “aggressively pursue an agreement with the Republican nominee to preserve a publicly financed general election” and later in the year, it indicated on a questionnaire he would participate if the Republican nominee agreed to “a fundraising truce.”

What changed? Obama demonstrated unrivaled fundraising ability that likely will allow him to raise substantially more than $84 million for the general election.

Obama justified his decision by asserting the private cash would be necessary to fend off attacks from outside groups and by asserting that McCain’s campaign was unwilling to negotiate the terms of a truce.

McCain’s campaign denied Obama even tried to negotiate, but, setting aside the question of a truce, Obama’s positioning brought a full flop ruling from PolitiFact.

McCain on the Bush tax cuts

Fresh off his stinging defeat to George W. Bush in the 2000 GOP presidential primary, McCain burnished his reputation as a maverick by opposing the tax cuts proposed by President Bush in 2001. He was one of the few Republicans to do so, and he opposed their renewal in 2003, both times asserting they were fiscally imprudent.

But McCain voted in favor of the cuts, which also reduced taxes on capital gains and dividend income, when they came up for renewal again in 2006, as he was working to mend fences with the Republican base in preparation for another bid for the party’s presidential nomination.

McCain explained his reversal by asserting “American businesses and investors need a stable and predictable tax policy to continue contributing to the growth of our economy. These considerations lead me to the conclusion that we should not reverse course by letting higher tax rates take effect.”

Justification aside, this is an actual change of position for McCain, and PolitiFact rated it full flop.

Obama on FISA

Obama reversed himself when he voted last month for a wiretapping bill granting retroactive immunity to telecommunications companies that helped the government monitor customers’ calls and e-mails without warrants.

Obama had won plaudits from online liberal activists last year when he pledged to filibuster any bill containing such immunity.

He explained his shift by asserting that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act legislation had changed from when he made his filibuster pledge, partly because it requires internal government watchdogs to investigate the program.

But that did little to sate the Netroots or obscure his flip-flop.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/200...CcoNbydoF2wPIE