In a time of universal deceit…
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… telling the truth is a revolutionary act. –George Orwell
A little about John McCain for all those people talking about Obama’s money scandals, religion scandals, and palling around with terrorists…
McCain and Keating (you know, Charles Keating, the chairman of Lincoln Savings and Loan, that was convicted of Fraud and Racketeering and cost 10′s of thousands of Americans more than $250 million dollars in retirement and life savings, and the Federal Government 3 billion dollars) had become personal friends following their initial contacts in 1981, and McCain was the only one of the five with close social and personal ties to Keating. Like DeConcini, McCain considered Keating a constituent as he lived in Arizona.
Between 1982 and 1987, McCain had received $112,000 in political contributions from Keating and his associates. In addition, McCain’s wife Cindy McCain and her father Jim Hensley had invested $359,100 in a Keating shopping center in April 1986, a year before McCain met with the regulators. McCain, his family, and their baby-sitter had made nine trips at Keating’s expense, sometimes aboard Keating’s jet. Three of the trips were made during vacations to Keating’s opulent Bahamas retreat at Cat Cay. McCain did not pay Keating (in the amount of $13,433) for some of the trips until years after they were taken, when he learned that Keating was in trouble over Lincoln.
In 1989 Phoenix New Times writer Tom Fitzpatrick opined that McCain was the “most reprehensible” of the five senators involved in the Keating Scandal.
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Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain are both proposing tax plans that would result in cuts for most American families. Obama’s plan gives the biggest cuts to those who make the least, while McCain would give the largest cuts to the very wealthy.
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In 1998 G. Gordon Liddy, held a fundraiser at his home for John McCain and has donated around $5,000 to him, $1000 of which was from this year. Last November, McCain was on his radio show where McCain greeted him as “an old friend,” and stated, “It’s always a pleasure for me to come on your program, Gordon, and congratulations on your continued success and adherence to the principles and philosophies that keep our nation great.”
Liddy, now a conservative radio talk-show host, spent more than 4 years in prison for his role in the 1972 Watergate burglary, one of the greatest scandals in American history. Then there was a whole messy situation about a plot to firebomb the Brookings Institution and another little plot to kidnap “leftist guerillas” at the 1972 Republican National Convention. Sounds like domestic terrorism to me.
Really, what a guy! And oh yeah, before I forget, he also tried to kill an unfriendly journalist and claims to have been inspired as a child by Adolph Hitler (note the stache above).
Yet, McCain has no trouble ‘palling around’ with him.
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In the 1980′s McCain spent some time serving on the board of the U.S. Council for World Freedom, a far-right conservative organization that had supplied arms and funds to paramilitary organizations in Latin America.
According to the Anti-Defamation League, in 1981 when McCain was on the board, the group was affiliated with the World Anti-Communist League, which ‘has increasingly become a gathering place, a forum, a point of contact for extremists, racists and anti-Semites.’”
For instance, Roger Pearson, the chairman of the WACL, was expelled from the group in 1980 under allegations that he was a member of a neo-Nazi organization. There was also a Mexican chapter that “blamed everything on the Jews.”
Reagan did recognize the group, which funded many right-wing military operations. In a 60 Minutes segment aired in ’86, the group was described as the President’s “secret weapon to sidestep a Congress that will not permit him to act in the areas where he believes that our security interests are at stake.”
Obama knew Ayers once he had reformed and worked with him on education programs, while McCain was a member of this group when it was full of neo-nazis.
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Senator John McCain’s campaign manager was paid more than $30,000 a month for five years (almost 2 million dollars) as president of an advocacy group set up by the mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to defend them against stricter regulations, current and former officials say.
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William Timmons, the lobbyist whom John McCain has appointed as head of his Presidential transition team, “aided an influence effort on behalf of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein to ease international sanctions against his regime.”
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On July 30, the Senate was voting for the eighth time in the past year on a broad, vitally important bill – S. 3335 – that would have extended the investment tax credits for installing solar energy and the production tax credits for building wind turbines and other energy-efficiency systems.
Both the wind and solar industries depend on these credits – which expire in December – to scale their businesses and become competitive with coal, oil and natural gas. Unlike offshore drilling, these credits could have an immediate impact on America’s energy profile.
Senator McCain did not show up for the crucial vote on July 30, and the renewable energy bill was defeated for the eighth time. In fact, John McCain has a perfect record on this renewable energy legislation. He has missed all eight votes over the last year – which effectively counts as a no vote each time. Once, he was even in the Senate and wouldn’t leave his office to vote.
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“I have never asked for nor received a single earmark or pork barrel project for my state… – John McCain”
“I would like to request that EPA either re-program $5 million out of existing funds or earmark the amount from an appropriate account,” McCain wrote in his Oct. 9, 1992 letter to then-EPA Administrator William K. Reilly, calling the earmark “crucial to protecting the public health and the environment.”
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“I’ve never done any favors for anybody – lobbyist or special interest group – that’s a clear, 24-year record. – John McCain”
Presumptive Republican presidential candidate John McCain secured millions in federal funds for a land acquisition program that provided a windfall for an Arizona developer whose executives were major campaign donors, according to a USA Today report.
McCain, an Arizona senator, inserted $14.3 million in a 2003 defense bill to buy land around Luke Air Force Base in Glendale, Arizona, in a provision sought by SunCor Development, the largest of 50 landowners near the base, the newspaper reported on its Web site Thursday, citing public records.
Upset with a state law that restricted development around the base, SunCor representatives met with McCain’s staff to lobby for funding, USA Today reported, citing the company’s president at the time, John Ogden.
The Air Force later paid SunCor $3 million for 122 acres near the base — three times its assessed value and twice the military’s estimated value, the newspaper said.
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McCain had no trouble fraternizing with ACORN in 2006 when their political interests coincided with his (calling them “What makes America special”). Now, his campaign is writing e-mails in his name-bashing ACORN as a tool of the Obama machine.
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John McCain On:
- Signing of the GI Bill: Now enthusiastically for it… after it passed. Previously attacked the Webb Bill. Didn’t even bother to vote on it.
- The Violence Against Women Act, McCain voted against funding for VAWA as recently as 2007. It was McCain’s second vote against VAWA, as he opposed the first version of this landmark legislation in 1994.
- Campaign reform: On political reform, McCain last January opposed a grassroots lobbying bill he once supported. In 2006, the “New York Sun” reported that his presidential ambitions led McCain to reverse his support of a campaign financial bill called McCain/Feingold.
- Alien Minors Act/Immigration: Last October he said he would vote against the development, relief and education for Alien Minors Act that he co-sponsored, and then said he would vote against an immigration bill that he introduced.
- Gay Marriage: In 2006, he said on “HARDBALL,” quote, “I think that gay marriage should be allowed”. Then after the commercial break he added, I do not believe that gay marriages should be legal.
- Abortion: On abortion, 1999, publicly supporting Roe v. Wade, privately opposing it in a letter to the National Right to Life Committee. In the 2000 debates, he would change the GOP platform to permit exceptions for rape, incest, and the life of the mother. May 2007, “flipped”, ABCNews.com reported.
- Nuclear Waste: No Storing Nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain earlier. Now flipped
- Negotiating with Kim Jong-Il: Negotiating with Kim Jong-Il not acceptable until President Bush did it.
- Negotiating with Cuba/Castro: Negotiating With Fidel Castro acceptable in 2000, not 2008.
- Negotiating with Hamas/Terrorists: Negotiating with terrorists appropriate when Colin Powell went to Syria and in 2006 when McCain said sooner or later we’ll talk to Hamas, but not appropriate now re: Obama’s willingness to use diplomacy.
- Pakistan: Unilateral action against suspected terrorists in Pakistan; “Confused leadership” when Obama suggested it, not when Bush did it.
- Warrantless Wiretaps: Six months ago, presidents had to obey the law, not anymore.
- Torture: Torture detainees, no way, except for the CIA. Hold them indefinitely, wrong in 2003, the right move in 2008.
- Iraq War: The Iraq war, the right course 2004, stay the course 2005. Today, McCain has always been a Rumsfeld critic.
- Tax Cuts: In 2001, he could not in good conscious support them. Now he can.
- Estate Tax: 2006, “I agree with President Roosevelt who created it”. In 2008, “most unfair”.
- Privatizing Social Security: This month not for privatizing Social Security, never has been. In 2004, he “didn’t see how benefits would last without privatizing Social Security”.
- Balanced Budget: In February, promised a balanced budget in four years by April, make that eight years.
- Windfall Profits Tax: In May, glad to look at the windfall profits tax. By June, that was Jimmy Carter’s big idea.
- Offshore Drilling: In 2000, no new off shore drilling. Last month, it would take years to develop. This month, very helpful in the short term.
- Coyotes..Bush Big Time Fund Raisers: The Bush fund-raisers McCain called coyotes breaking the law in 2000. By 2006, they were co-chairing McCain fund-raisers.
- “Agents of Intolerance”: Buddy Jerry Falwell…an “agent of intolerance in 2000″. Kissed Falwell’s ass in 2007… The Reverend Hagee and Parsley in, then out this year alone.
- Martin Luther King Holiday: In 1983, opposed Martin Luther King Day. Today, all for it.
- Confederate Flag: In 2000, defended South Carolina’s confederate flag as a symbol of heritage. Two years later, McCain calling it, quote, an act of political cowardice not to say the flag should come down. Quote, “everybody said, look out. You can’t win in South Carolina if you say that.”
- Evolution in Public Schools: In 2005, McCain said alternatives to evolution should be taught in school. “Evolving” the opposite position he had taken in 2000.
- Restoring the Everglades: On June 5, John McCain traveled to the Everglades to win over Floridians and environmentally-minded voters. There he proclaimed, “I am in favor of doing whatever’s necessary to save the Everglades.” McCain not only opposed $2 billion in funding for the restoration of the Everglades national park, he backed President Bush’s veto of the legislation in 2007. “I believe,” he said, “that we should be passing a bill that will authorize legitimate, needed projects without sacrificing fiscal responsibility.”
- Swiftboating: McCain’s sudden embrace of Swiftboating — which today is synonymous with a concerted effort to lie about an opponent’s history — is all the more deplorable because he has hired retired Col. George “Bud” Day, a proud member of the group that Swiftboated Kerry — and someone McCain once described as having “tunnel vision” — to lead what McCain is calling his “Truth Squad.”
- GITMO/Habeus Corpus: Despite John McCain’s outrage last week that the Supreme Court ordered Gitmo detainees know why they were being held, or released — in 2005 he argued they deserved trials, going so far as to say “if it means releasing some of them, you’ll have to release them.”
- Divestment from South Africa: During his June 2 speech to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), John McCain called for the international community to target Iran for the kind of worldwide sanctions regime applied to apartheid-era South Africa. Unfortunately, McCain’s lobbyist-advisers Charlie Black and Rick Davis each represented firms doing business with Tehran. Even more unfortunate, John McCain was frequently not among those offering “moral clarity and conviction” in backing “a divestment campaign against South Africa, helping to rid that nation of the evil of apartheid.”
- Opposing Hurricane Katrina Investigations: During a June 4th town hall meeting in Baton Rouge, John McCain answered a reporter’s question regarding Hurricane Katrina and the failure of the New Orleans levees by announcing:
“I’ve supported every investigation and ways of finding out what caused the tragedy. I’ve been here to New Orleans. I’ve met with people on the ground.”
As it turns out, not so much. McCain’s revisionist history neglects to mention that in 2005 and 2006 he twice voted against a commission to study the government’s response to Katrina. He also opposed three separate emergency funding measures providing relief to Katrina victims, including the extension of five months of Medicaid benefits. And until traveling there one month ago, McCain had made just one public tour of New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina touched down in August 2005.”
- McCain On His Economic Abilities: “I have not. I have not. Actually, I have not.” “I said that I am stronger on national security issues because of all the time I spent in the military and others. I am very strong on the economy. I understand it. I have a lot more experience than my opponent.”
Sen. John McCain, in an interview on ABC News, when asked why he “admitted that you’re not exactly an expert when it comes to the economy.”
However, NBC News compiles past McCain quotes in which he said “The issue of economics is not something I’ve understood as well as I should” or “I’m going to be honest: I know a lot less about economics than I do about military and foreign policy issues. I still need to be educated.”
- On Criticizing Obama While “Overseas”: Traveling in Colombia, he told reporters that he wouldn’t criticize Obama while he was overseas, but on the plane, he blasted Obama’s opposition to the proposed Colombia free trade…
- Temperment and Temper: “My temper has often been both a matter of public speculation and personal concern,” he wrote in a 2002 memoir. “I have a temper, to state the obvious, which I have tried to control with varying degrees of success because it does not always serve my interest or the public’s.” Not true and not under control, according to many of those on the “W”rong side of McCain’s famous temper.
- Drilling For Oil and Automobile Efficiency: “Last week, Senator McCain reversed himself and said we need to drill more. Today, he has reversed years of failing to support more efficient cars, new energy technologies and green jobs.
- Offshore Drilling: Two weeks ago, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) offered “a bit of a capitulation to the oil companies” by announcing that he would end the federal ban on offshore oil drilling. Not only is McCain’s move a break with environmental activist, but it is also “a reversal of the position he took in his 2000 presidential campaign.
- Payroll Taxes: “When he was asked in 2005 whether he could see himself lifting the cap on the payroll tax, (McCain) said, ‘I could.’ Two years later, during a May 13, 2007, appearance on “Meet the Press,” Russert asked McCain if he was still open to lifting the Social Security tax cap as part of a compromise. “Am I opposed to tax increases?” said McCain. “Yes. But we’ve got to sit down together and figure out what our options are, and tough decisions have to be made, Republicans and Democrats. And I know how to do that.” Asked about the 2005 remark, a McCain spokesman acknowledged the tension with his current position while arguing that the Arizona senator’s criticism of his Democratic rival is still valid because McCain has spoken out against higher Social Security taxes as a 2008 White House hopeful.
- Ethics Reform and Abramoff: On the stump, Sen. John McCain often cites his work tackling the excesses of disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff as evidence of his sturdy ethical compass. A little-known document, however, shows that McCain may have taken steps to protect his Republican colleagues from the scope of his investigation.
