Day: July 8, 2008

McCain’s Latest Joke: Maybe Cigarettes Would Kill Iranians

Trish

Oops, he did it again. John McCain just can’t seem to get the distinction between objecting to the policies of Iran’s rulers and expressing a desire to kill all Iranians, even the pierre ordinaire folk.

The presumptive Republican presidential nominee was asked about the number of exports going to Iran, specifically the increase in cigarette exports.

McCain looked surprised at that fact and in a line somewhat reminiscent of his “bomb, bomb, bomb, Iran” comment last year said, “Maybe that’s a way of killing them.” Then he followed it up quickly noting that it was a joke.

McCain made the remark during a visit to Primanti Brothers Sandwich shop in Pittsburgh, Pa.

There’s something wrong with John McCain. This guy is not a maverick, he’s a loose cannon who can’t figure out how to keep his mouth shut and his inappropriate thoughts to himself. I can’t imagine any former or potential president saying such things, and that even includes George W. Dumbass himself.

Waxman Schedules Vote on Contempt Charge against Attorney General Michael Mukasey

Jon Ponder

Via BuzzFlash.com. On Tuesday, Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, announced that he has scheduled a vote for July 16 on whether to charge Attorney General Michael Mukasey with contempt of Congress.
“[There] were no “agreements, conditions and understandings between the Office of Special Counselor the Federal Bureau of Investigation” and either the president or vice president “regarding the conduct and use of the interview or interviews.”
— Patrick Fitzgerald
Mukasey has refused to comply with the committee’s subpoena for FBI transcripts of a June 2004 interview with Dick Cheney about the leaking of the identity of CIA agent Valerie Plame.

The administration has asserted that Cheney’s interview cannot be shared with Congress. However, Waxman has confirmed that the interview was not covered by a secrecy agreement, primarily because it was part of grand jury inquiry into the leak.

The confirmation comes from Patrick Fitzgerald, the special counsel in the leak investigation:

I can advise you that as to any interviews of either the president or vice president not protected by the rules of grand jury secrecy, there were no “agreements, conditions and understandings between the Office of Special Counselor the Federal Bureau of Investigation” and either the president or vice president “regarding the conduct and use of the interview or interviews.”

The committee is looking into allegations that Cheney directed the unmasking of Plame, a specialist in the black market for terror weapons, because her husband, Joe Wilson, had criticized him in a newspaper.

In early 2007, Cheney’s chief of staff, Scooter Libby, was found guilty of obstructing the inquiry by lying to investigators.

McFlipflop: McCain Says He’s ‘Reluctant’ to Talk about Being a POW — Now He’s Released an Ad Focusing on His POW Status

Jon Ponder

Last week, on his campaign plane heading toward Colombia, John McCain all but blew his top when a reporter asked him how his status as a former POW qualified him to be president:

“Please,” he said, recoiling back in his seat in distaste at the very question.

McCain allies Sen. Lindsey Graham stepped in to rescue him. Graham expressed admiration for McCain’s stance on the treatment of detainees in US custody.

“That to me is a classic example of how his military experience helped him shape public policy in a way no other senator could have done,’’ Graham said.

Sen. Joseph Lieberman, also traveling on the trip, expressed admiration for McCain’s wartime service as well.

McCain then collected himself and apologized for his initial reaction.

“I kind of reacted the way I did because I have a reluctance to talk about my experiences,” he said, noting that he has huge admiration for the “heroes” who served with him in the POW camp and said the experience taught him to love the U.S. because he missed it so much.

“I am always reluctant to talk about these things,” McCain said.

Less than a week later, McCain releases a campaign ad, titled “Love,” that focuses on — you guessed it — his status as a prisoner of war in Vietnam.

Iraq’s Al Maliki Wants U.S. Forces to Leave Iraq

Jon Ponder

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki dropped a bombshell into the American presidential campaign yesterday when he stated publicly that it was time for U.S. troops to leave his country.

“The current trend is to reach an agreement on a memorandum of understanding either for the departure of the forces or to put a timetable on their withdrawal,” al Maliki said, while on an official visit to the United Arab Emirates.

The U.S. government is currently negotiating with the Iraqis on an agreement that would keep U.S. forces in the country on a long-term basis. But members of the parliament and the al Maliki government are said to be unhappy with the proposal because it would undermine Iraq’s sovereignty.

Al Maliki’s announcement can be seen as a direct challenge to the Iraq policy of George Bush and his presumptive heir, John McCain, both of whom insist that the U.S. cannot withdraw until Iraq is secure. McCain is on the record saying U.S. troops could remain in Iraq for a century or more, if conditions warrant.

Reacting to al Maliki’s announcement, Barack Obama said the Iraqi government is more in sync with his view of future U.S.-Iraq relations.

“I think that his statement is consistent with my view about how withdrawals should proceed,” Obama said to reporters on Monday. “I think it’s encouraging … that the prime minister himself now acknowledges that in cooperation with Iraq, it’s time for American forces to start sending out a timeframe for the withdrawal.

“I hope that this administration as well as John McCain is listening to what Prime Minister Al Maliki has to say.”

If the Iraqis take the next step and officially request a withdrawal, and Bush declines the request, it will shatter the myth that U.S. troops are not forces of occupation in Iraq.

It’s unclear whether the Iraqis will take that step, but no matter what happens, the Iraqi government’s position on withdrawal will make it harder as the fall campaign plays out for McCain and Bush to smear Obama and the Democrats as advocates of “surrendering” and “cutting and running” from the Iraq civil war.

McCain Campaign Staff in Turmoil and Fund Raising in the Toilet; Media Focuses on Obama

Trish

While the mob wrings its hands because Barack Obama is sticking to his moderate stance on most issues, it fails to notice that the John McCain campaign is imploding.

The man has been the presumptive nominee of his party for months; enjoyed weeks and weeks of uncritical media time while Clinton and Obama competed for the Democratic title; knows the Republican convention is Sept. 1; yet he still hasn’t put together a team that works. Worse, according to the New York Times, he surrounds himself with strong personalities he can’t summon the guts to fire, regardless of their performance or ability. Sounds like the Current Occupant.

NYT: McCain is uncomfortable firing people or banishing them entirely. His orbit remains filled with people who have been demoted without being told they are being demoted.

Senator John McCain’s campaigns have long been defined by internal squabbling and power plays, zigzagging lines of command and a penchant by the candidate for consulting with former advisers without alerting current ones, always a recipe for disquiet.

After a period of relative calm on that score, it is becoming clear that his campaign is once again a swirl of competing spheres of influence, clusters of friends, consultants and media advisers who represent a matrix of clashing ambitions and festering feuds…

Mr. McCain is uncomfortable firing people or banishing them entirely. His orbit remains filled with people who have been demoted without being told they are being demoted…

The prospect of a McCain White House, where no one is accountable because no one is responsible, might be one reason fund raising isn’t going so well. Things are especially bad in Florida, once a virtual Republican ATM.

Of the 55 Floridians the 2004 Bush-Cheney campaign designated as top fundraisers, either “Pioneers” who brought in at least $100,000 or “Rangers” who raised at least $200,000, only 20 have written their own check to the McCain campaign, a St. Petersburg Times analysis found.

“I don’t recall getting a phone call from anybody from the campaign saying, ‘Where are you?’ ” said Robert Coker, senior vice president of U.S. Sugar Corp. in Clewiston, who raised more than $100,000 for Bush-Cheney in 2004…

That’s because the McCain folks probably aren’t sure whose job it is to make those calls. Even Jeb Bush is MIA. His check to McCain was for $1,000, far short of the $2,300 individual limit.

Meanwhile, Democratic voters debate whether it’s more important to produce a FISA reauthorization bill that would allow fines on telecommunications company for past cooperation with Bush administration mandates, or one that protects civil liberties going forward, as Obama supports. Priorities, I guess, are all in the eye of the beholder.