McCain evolves, Obama flip flops. And so the double standard continues in this most curious of campaign seasons. Senator McCain can change positions and muddle through confusing reconstructions. He can reach out to weird religious figures like the Reverends Parsley and Hagee and employ the services of "economic guru" Phil Gramm. Or he can disavow the zany prelates and Gramm when they become too cumbersome. Whatever or whomever he chooses to embrace, or not, is all just part of an ever-evolving McCain campaign. But if Obama re-evaluates a position or reconsiders previous attachments he is attacked for being disloyal, weak and lacking judgment.
McCain amuses audiences by telling them that, as a POW, he used either the Green Bay Packer or the Pittsburgh Steeler defensive lines to fool his captors into believing they were his Air Force crew - - that habit he has of saying whatever seems to suit a particular group at a particular location. His recent claim that he "knows how to win wars" slips into the public information mill with hardly a murmur or proof of any kind, although campaign surrogates are working to re-define ‘what he actually meant.'
He has backtracked on opinions regarding immigration and the president's tax cuts and dissembled about his lack of support for the recent bill to provide educational benefits for veterans who opted out of the service after completing their tours instead of resigning. When congressional support proved too great and the president signed the legislation, he praised McCain for his support of the bill. As has become painfully obvious, truth isn't all that important to the president and his party. Anything that sounds good will do.
McCain stands firm, however, against abortion, and for the appointment of "strict-constructionist" judges, believes competition is the cornerstone of a strong economy, and that "market forces" will carry the day. He tends to repeat things that, however insubstantial, strike a responsive chord among attendees at those embarrassing town hall meetings of which he is so fond. He says he'd like to engage Obama at a series of such events, but he should be grateful that his opponent has been largely unavailable since the contrast between the two men on such occasions would not favor McCain.
Yet he exudes for many the persona of an honorable man who is strong on national security and knows stuff. Why this is true, given his repeated gaffes regarding foreign entities and peoples, is a mystery. Still, Republicans get away with accusing Obama of being naïve, indecisive and weak on defense. Having offered to accompany him to Iraq and take him around, McCain now criticizes Obama for going on such a trip, and his campaign is furious that network anchors will accompany him on his travels. Deprived of the opportunity to play older, experienced mentor to the young naïf, McCain is all huffy about the media blitz that seems likely to engulf Obama, and some of his supporters have begun ranting about how the media better give McCain adequate attention. Harrumph!
Suddenly, the Bush White House is, wonder of wonders, sending a representative to Teheran. It's as if someone at the center of their delusional-foreign-policy-compound said ‘hey let's give a shout out' to those terrorists in Iran and see what happens. And while McCain still insists that Iraq is the focus of our efforts to win the war on terrorism, Afghanistan is beginning to up-stage Iraq in the minds of most foreign-policy experts.
Meanwhile Phil Gramm has announced he is stepping down as co-chair of the McCain campaign because he has become a distraction; he accuses Democrats of preferring to attack him rather than debate McCain. But Michelle Obama is fair game, and her "being proud of her country for the first time..." remark is played endlessly in commercials accompanied by bits from adoring patriots who have always been proud of their country.
One can always support, love and defend this country, but never to have questioned our government's behavior or been ashamed of the racist undercurrent that has played a major role in our political life is to deny the downside of our history and keeps us from finding solutions going forward.
As the McCain camp steadily "evolves" into irrelevant positions and relies on personal attacks, Obama "flip flops" his way towards a better understanding of the realities we face on the world stage and tries not to respond in kind - - so much for definitions.
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"McCain Keeps Mentioning Country That Hasn't Existed Since 1992" by Jake Tapper, ABC News
Excerpt
In early 2000, then-Gov. George W. Bush told Roger Simon, then with U.S. News & World Report, that he was befuddled by how soft the media was on Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.
"I don't think there is any plot; I hope there isn't," Bush said. "But it's an amazing phenomenon, I'll tell you that. It's like the flap over the foreign-leader deal. A guy gets up and quizzes me -- it's my fault for trying to answer -- but John McCain says something about the 'ambassador to Czechoslovakia.' Well, I know there is no Czechoslovakia (there's a Czech Republic and a Slovakia), but yet it didn't make the nightly national news. I'm not going to gripe about it, but the media question is starting to pop up."
Apparently that Czechoslovakia lesson never took, because McCain keeps making that mistake, eight years later.
"I was concerned about a couple of steps that the Russian government took in the last several days," McCain said this week. "One was reducing the energy supplies to Czechoslovakia. Apparently that is in reaction to the Czech's agreement with us concerning missile defense, and again some of the Russian now announcement they are now retargeting new targets, something they abandoned at the end of the Cold War, is also a concern."
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More examples of the GOP "liberal media" lie.
Also, we really need another nitwit in the Whitehouse.... NOT.
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