Comments on: The “McCain standard” and the rise of the Calphalon Candidate http://www.scholarsandrogues.com/2008/05/01/the-mccain-standard-and-the-rise-of-the-calphalon-candidate/ Think - it ain't illegal yet... Sat, 21 Nov 2009 10:43:07 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 hourly 1 By: The WAWG Blog Blog Archive » Bad Deeds for 5-2-2008 - Special John McCain and the Media Edition http://www.scholarsandrogues.com/2008/05/01/the-mccain-standard-and-the-rise-of-the-calphalon-candidate/comment-page-1/#comment-37820 The WAWG Blog Blog Archive » Bad Deeds for 5-2-2008 - Special John McCain and the Media Edition Mon, 05 May 2008 04:43:01 +0000 http://www.scholarsandrogues.com/2008/05/01/the-mccain-standard-and-the-rise-of-the-calphalon-candidate/#comment-37820 [...] The Preacher Problem That Can Kill Us - If you’re following America’s electoral theater at all, you know that we have a candidate with a preacher problem. And that the candidate in question has been put in the uncomfortable position of having to repudiate some of said preacher’s remarks (while not alienating those voters in the flock who actually, you know, agree with what the Reverend was saying). [...] [...] The Preacher Problem That Can Kill Us – If you’re following America’s electoral theater at all, you know that we have a candidate with a preacher problem. And that the candidate in question has been put in the uncomfortable position of having to repudiate some of said preacher’s remarks (while not alienating those voters in the flock who actually, you know, agree with what the Reverend was saying). [...]

]]> By: Russ Wellen http://www.scholarsandrogues.com/2008/05/01/the-mccain-standard-and-the-rise-of-the-calphalon-candidate/comment-page-1/#comment-37572 Russ Wellen Sat, 03 May 2008 03:44:03 +0000 http://www.scholarsandrogues.com/2008/05/01/the-mccain-standard-and-the-rise-of-the-calphalon-candidate/#comment-37572 I'm sorry -- I'm eternally indebted to Hagee for calling my beloathed Catholic church the "great anti-Christ." Of course, it takes one to know one. Hagee aside, note that at Counterpunch, its editor -- respected journalist and Nation columnist Alexander Cockburn -- has thrown his weight behind the long-rumored McCain-as-Hanoi-collaborator story by making it the lead article in the print version of his magazine. It's available to subscribers only, but here's an excerpt: <BLOCKQUOTE>"…McCain was held for five and half years. The first two weeks' behavior might have been pragmatism, but McCain soon became North Vietnam's go-to collaborator. . . .McCain cooperated with the North Vietnamese for a period of three years. His situation isn't as innocuous as that of the French barber who cuts the hair of the German occupier. McCain was repaying his captors for their kindness and mercy."</BLOCKQUOTE> This is light years beyond Swift-boating. I’m sorry — I’m eternally indebted to Hagee for calling my beloathed Catholic church the “great anti-Christ.” Of course, it takes one to know one.

Hagee aside, note that at Counterpunch, its editor — respected journalist and Nation columnist Alexander Cockburn — has thrown his weight behind the long-rumored McCain-as-Hanoi-collaborator story by making it the lead article in the print version of his magazine.

It’s available to subscribers only, but here’s an excerpt:

“…McCain was held for five and half years. The first two weeks’ behavior might have been pragmatism, but McCain soon became North Vietnam’s go-to collaborator. . . .McCain cooperated with the North Vietnamese for a period of three years. His situation isn’t as innocuous as that of the French barber who cuts the hair of the German occupier. McCain was repaying his captors for their kindness and mercy.”

This is light years beyond Swift-boating.

]]> By: More of the Same http://www.scholarsandrogues.com/2008/05/01/the-mccain-standard-and-the-rise-of-the-calphalon-candidate/comment-page-1/#comment-37502 More of the Same Fri, 02 May 2008 19:30:36 +0000 http://www.scholarsandrogues.com/2008/05/01/the-mccain-standard-and-the-rise-of-the-calphalon-candidate/#comment-37502 “John Dubya McCain” Sorry but it does have the ring of truth. I agree that in 2000, before the infection that is the Bush Administration gave us the collective governmental clap McCain would have charted a different, probably somewhat better, course than the Monkey. However, if you haven't noticed, McSame has spent this last election cycle cozying up to the Republican Conservative/Bush wing of the party and he has basically assured them that he will carry much of their agenda forward. He is Bush's third term, and telling it straight up or making a sarcastic joke about it, doesn't matter, it's the truth. “John Dubya McCain”

Sorry but it does have the ring of truth. I agree that in 2000, before the infection that is the Bush Administration gave us the collective governmental clap McCain would have charted a different, probably somewhat better, course than the Monkey. However, if you haven’t noticed, McSame has spent this last election cycle cozying up to the Republican Conservative/Bush wing of the party and he has basically assured them that he will carry much of their agenda forward. He is Bush’s third term, and telling it straight up or making a sarcastic joke about it, doesn’t matter, it’s the truth.

]]> By: Dr. Slammy http://www.scholarsandrogues.com/2008/05/01/the-mccain-standard-and-the-rise-of-the-calphalon-candidate/comment-page-1/#comment-37501 Dr. Slammy Fri, 02 May 2008 19:30:35 +0000 http://www.scholarsandrogues.com/2008/05/01/the-mccain-standard-and-the-rise-of-the-calphalon-candidate/#comment-37501 McCain isn't like Bush, huh? That's a testable hypothesis. http://www.bush-mccainchallenge.com McCain isn’t like Bush, huh? That’s a testable hypothesis.

http://www.bush-mccainchallenge.com

]]> By: debby http://www.scholarsandrogues.com/2008/05/01/the-mccain-standard-and-the-rise-of-the-calphalon-candidate/comment-page-1/#comment-37500 debby Fri, 02 May 2008 19:26:40 +0000 http://www.scholarsandrogues.com/2008/05/01/the-mccain-standard-and-the-rise-of-the-calphalon-candidate/#comment-37500 I can't say I'm surprised. Hagee's rhetoric is practically word-for-word what Jerry Falwell was preaching, and McCain got in bed with him a couple of years ago. I agree with Djerrid @ 6 that McCain is no more religious than the Clintons, but he's going to do everything it takes to win the presidency, including pandering to the evangelicals even if he doesn't really believe every stupid-ass proclamation their leaders make. I can’t say I’m surprised. Hagee’s rhetoric is practically word-for-word what Jerry Falwell was preaching, and McCain got in bed with him a couple of years ago. I agree with Djerrid @ 6 that McCain is no more religious than the Clintons, but he’s going to do everything it takes to win the presidency, including pandering to the evangelicals even if he doesn’t really believe every stupid-ass proclamation their leaders make.

]]> By: Djerrid http://www.scholarsandrogues.com/2008/05/01/the-mccain-standard-and-the-rise-of-the-calphalon-candidate/comment-page-1/#comment-37499 Djerrid Fri, 02 May 2008 19:02:20 +0000 http://www.scholarsandrogues.com/2008/05/01/the-mccain-standard-and-the-rise-of-the-calphalon-candidate/#comment-37499 "John Dubya McCain" Ok. I think I'll step in for a second to talk about effective and ineffective ways to bash a candidate. Calling them names is usually cheap and childish but only effective if it rings somewhat true. Insisting that McCain is a clone of Bush does great disservice to the incompetent abomination that is the Bush Administration. It takes a certain kind of special to do what they did. And you can't believe we would be in the mess we are in today if McCain won in 2000. Would Gore have been orders of magnitude better for this country than McCain? Sure, but insisting that eight years of McCain would follow the trajectory of the previous eight years under Bush seems to be guided more by ideology than rationality. Looking at the volume of decent criticisms above, you've got more than enough mud to sling around without having to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin's_law" rel="nofollow">Godwin</a> the debate. While still dressed in my Devil's Advocate costume, here's where I see where the Wright/Hagee comparison fails. McCain is about as religious as the Clintons; which is to say, not much at all. Both Hagee and McCain did the handing out and receiving of endorsements out of calculated political necessity. Obama, on the other hand, has been attending Wright's church for a couple decades, became a Christan under him and was truly his "spiritual counsellor". The amount of press that Wright received in comparison to Hagee is a sad commentary on race in this country. But that is not a straight up analogy because their relationships with the candidates are not at the same level. So, I don't give the press a complete pass on this, but I can understand why there isn't identical coverage of both preachers. Now McCain's great audition for the part of "Angry Old Coot" is brilliant. From "McNasty" to screaming at fellow legislators to cursing out and publicly humiliating his wife, I'm waiting for him to holler "Get off my lawn!" to America. This is a great foil to Obama's "Mr. Cool" character. While McCain is no Bush, I'm afraid that he will still have a tendency to defer to his staff and the Republican party in general when he doesn't give a shit about a topic he is confronted with. Take his <a href="http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/03/16/mccain-stumbles-on-hiv-prevention/" rel="nofollow">view </a>on AIDS and contraception: Q: “What about grants for sex education in the United States? Should they include instructions about using contraceptives? Or should it be Bush’s policy, which is just abstinence?” Mr. McCain: (Long pause) “Ahhh. I think I support the president’s policy.” Q: “So no contraception, no counseling on contraception. Just abstinence. Do you think contraceptives help stop the spread of HIV?” Mr. McCain: (Long pause) “You’ve stumped me.” Q: “I mean, I think you’d probably agree it probably does help stop it?” Mr. McCain: (Laughs) “Are we on the Straight Talk express? I’m not informed enough on it. Let me find out. You know, I’m sure I’ve taken a position on it on the past. I have to find out what my position was. Brian, would you find out what my position is on contraception – I’m sure I’m opposed to government spending on it, I’m sure I support the president’s policies on it.” ------ So, my great fear is that he will be more of a Reagan clone than Bush II. Instead of being informed and take his own position on matters, he will let the Republican ideologs do his thinking for him. “John Dubya McCain”

Ok. I think I’ll step in for a second to talk about effective and ineffective ways to bash a candidate. Calling them names is usually cheap and childish but only effective if it rings somewhat true. Insisting that McCain is a clone of Bush does great disservice to the incompetent abomination that is the Bush Administration. It takes a certain kind of special to do what they did. And you can’t believe we would be in the mess we are in today if McCain won in 2000. Would Gore have been orders of magnitude better for this country than McCain? Sure, but insisting that eight years of McCain would follow the trajectory of the previous eight years under Bush seems to be guided more by ideology than rationality. Looking at the volume of decent criticisms above, you’ve got more than enough mud to sling around without having to Godwin the debate.

While still dressed in my Devil’s Advocate costume, here’s where I see where the Wright/Hagee comparison fails. McCain is about as religious as the Clintons; which is to say, not much at all. Both Hagee and McCain did the handing out and receiving of endorsements out of calculated political necessity. Obama, on the other hand, has been attending Wright’s church for a couple decades, became a Christan under him and was truly his “spiritual counsellor”. The amount of press that Wright received in comparison to Hagee is a sad commentary on race in this country. But that is not a straight up analogy because their relationships with the candidates are not at the same level. So, I don’t give the press a complete pass on this, but I can understand why there isn’t identical coverage of both preachers.

Now McCain’s great audition for the part of “Angry Old Coot” is brilliant. From “McNasty” to screaming at fellow legislators to cursing out and publicly humiliating his wife, I’m waiting for him to holler “Get off my lawn!” to America. This is a great foil to Obama’s “Mr. Cool” character.

While McCain is no Bush, I’m afraid that he will still have a tendency to defer to his staff and the Republican party in general when he doesn’t give a shit about a topic he is confronted with. Take his view on AIDS and contraception:

Q: “What about grants for sex education in the United States? Should they include instructions about using contraceptives? Or should it be Bush’s policy, which is just abstinence?”

Mr. McCain: (Long pause) “Ahhh. I think I support the president’s policy.”

Q: “So no contraception, no counseling on contraception. Just abstinence. Do you think contraceptives help stop the spread of HIV?”

Mr. McCain: (Long pause) “You’ve stumped me.”

Q: “I mean, I think you’d probably agree it probably does help stop it?”

Mr. McCain: (Laughs) “Are we on the Straight Talk express? I’m not informed enough on it. Let me find out. You know, I’m sure I’ve taken a position on it on the past. I have to find out what my position was. Brian, would you find out what my position is on contraception – I’m sure I’m opposed to government spending on it, I’m sure I support the president’s policies on it.”
——

So, my great fear is that he will be more of a Reagan clone than Bush II. Instead of being informed and take his own position on matters, he will let the Republican ideologs do his thinking for him.

]]> By: Euphrosyne http://www.scholarsandrogues.com/2008/05/01/the-mccain-standard-and-the-rise-of-the-calphalon-candidate/comment-page-1/#comment-37498 Euphrosyne Fri, 02 May 2008 19:00:57 +0000 http://www.scholarsandrogues.com/2008/05/01/the-mccain-standard-and-the-rise-of-the-calphalon-candidate/#comment-37498 Yes, Darrell. It will help you. People are insane. Yes, Darrell. It will help you. People are insane.

]]> By: Elaine http://www.scholarsandrogues.com/2008/05/01/the-mccain-standard-and-the-rise-of-the-calphalon-candidate/comment-page-1/#comment-37497 Elaine Fri, 02 May 2008 18:45:29 +0000 http://www.scholarsandrogues.com/2008/05/01/the-mccain-standard-and-the-rise-of-the-calphalon-candidate/#comment-37497 "McCain flips and flops like a live trout on a hot griddle. He’s got a temper like an adolescent with roid rage. He called his wife - in public, with witnesses (and brace yourself for some intemperate language, if you would) - a “cunt.” Since no reporters are willing to ask about this bit of immoderacy, an attendee at an Iowa Town Hall event did." I find it difficult to believe that if there were journalists present that they did not write about it/speak about it/go on record somewhere. So all one is left with is an unsubstantiated and unsupported allegation that he used the C word. Otherwise I really found this article brilliant. Having watched all the TV coverage of Rev Wright it somewhat addresses the balance. I applaud Jimmy Carter's support of Mr Obama on how he handled the 'crazy' pastor. ...and I wonder whether Mr Obama was thinking God Damn Rev Wright. “McCain flips and flops like a live trout on a hot griddle. He’s got a temper like an adolescent with roid rage. He called his wife – in public, with witnesses (and brace yourself for some intemperate language, if you would) – a “cunt.” Since no reporters are willing to ask about this bit of immoderacy, an attendee at an Iowa Town Hall event did.”

I find it difficult to believe that if there were journalists present that they did not write about it/speak about it/go on record somewhere. So all one is left with is an unsubstantiated and unsupported allegation that he used the C word.

Otherwise I really found this article brilliant. Having watched all the TV coverage of Rev Wright it somewhat addresses the balance.

I applaud Jimmy Carter’s support of Mr Obama on how he handled the ‘crazy’ pastor.

…and I wonder whether Mr Obama was thinking God Damn Rev Wright.

]]> By: Darrell http://www.scholarsandrogues.com/2008/05/01/the-mccain-standard-and-the-rise-of-the-calphalon-candidate/comment-page-1/#comment-37483 Darrell Fri, 02 May 2008 15:46:54 +0000 http://www.scholarsandrogues.com/2008/05/01/the-mccain-standard-and-the-rise-of-the-calphalon-candidate/#comment-37483 At first I thought "why is no one reporting on this?" Then I realized that so many people believe in what this dude thinks. I honestly wonder if having this guy behind you will actually help you in "red" states. I never thought people were really this dumb until I talked to an old friend from Louisiana who actually thinks that black people should consider themselves lucky. He says "their tearing apart the country" I then ask "how?" His reasons: They were the strongest, smartest, best looking, and had the best teeth. I'm not making that up, it's not some lame black joke it's 100% real. It was on of the few times in my life I was speechless. He then asked me about his pastor, I said "at least he believes in jesus". Of course that's when he went with plan B, "isn't he muslum?" I wish I could have recorded that conversation, it was classic. It was also a point where I actually though Barack could lose. In similar news Matt Taibbi had a great article about Cornerstone In case you missed Matt's article, (Matt Taibbi Undercover with the Christian Right) here it is, it's pretty funny http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/20278737/jesus_made_me_puke At first I thought “why is no one reporting on this?” Then I realized that so many people believe in what this dude thinks. I honestly wonder if having this guy behind you will actually help you in “red” states. I never thought people were really this dumb until I talked to an old friend from Louisiana who actually thinks that black people should consider themselves lucky. He says “their tearing apart the country” I then ask “how?” His reasons: They were the strongest, smartest, best looking, and had the best teeth. I’m not making that up, it’s not some lame black joke it’s 100% real. It was on of the few times in my life I was speechless. He then asked me about his pastor, I said “at least he believes in jesus”. Of course that’s when he went with plan B, “isn’t he muslum?” I wish I could have recorded that conversation, it was classic. It was also a point where I actually though Barack could lose.

In similar news Matt Taibbi had a great article about Cornerstone

In case you missed Matt’s article, (Matt Taibbi Undercover with the Christian Right) here it is, it’s pretty funny

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/20278737/jesus_made_me_puke

]]> By: henry http://www.scholarsandrogues.com/2008/05/01/the-mccain-standard-and-the-rise-of-the-calphalon-candidate/comment-page-1/#comment-37478 henry Fri, 02 May 2008 14:43:50 +0000 http://www.scholarsandrogues.com/2008/05/01/the-mccain-standard-and-the-rise-of-the-calphalon-candidate/#comment-37478 one wonders? why all Catholic's are not asked by the Press? ( to denounce and reject} their pastors in the light of all the sex assaults on the children of the church. Is God watching? Why only Obama must renounce and reject his pastor? he has not raped any one. As hillary says he ( not muslim as far as I know?). whats up with that? one wonders? why all Catholic’s are not asked by the Press? ( to denounce and reject} their pastors in the light of all the sex assaults on the children of the church. Is God watching? Why only Obama must renounce and reject his pastor? he has not raped any one. As hillary says he ( not muslim as far as I know?). whats up with that?

]]> By: Euphrosyne http://www.scholarsandrogues.com/2008/05/01/the-mccain-standard-and-the-rise-of-the-calphalon-candidate/comment-page-1/#comment-37413 Euphrosyne Fri, 02 May 2008 00:41:49 +0000 http://www.scholarsandrogues.com/2008/05/01/the-mccain-standard-and-the-rise-of-the-calphalon-candidate/#comment-37413 Cornerstone Church is precisely 3.8 miles from my home, by the way. We get the batshit breezes all the time. Cornerstone Church is precisely 3.8 miles from my home, by the way. We get the batshit breezes all the time.

]]> By: www.buzzflash.net http://www.scholarsandrogues.com/2008/05/01/the-mccain-standard-and-the-rise-of-the-calphalon-candidate/comment-page-1/#comment-37405 www.buzzflash.net Thu, 01 May 2008 23:53:05 +0000 http://www.scholarsandrogues.com/2008/05/01/the-mccain-standard-and-the-rise-of-the-calphalon-candidate/#comment-37405 <strong>The “McCain standard” and the rise of the Calphalon Candidate...</strong> Maverick is clearly less the straight shooter than he wants us to believe and the nation’s press has no interest in holding him to the same standards it holds his opponents to. Welcome to The McCain Standard.... The “McCain standard” and the rise of the Calphalon Candidate…

Maverick is clearly less the straight shooter than he wants us to believe and the nation’s press has no interest in holding him to the same standards it holds his opponents to. Welcome to The McCain Standard….

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