McCain Rejects Secret Service Protection

"Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) may be the presumptive GOP nominee for president, but, by his own wishes, he is not being protected by the Secret Service." The Hill reports.

"He has not requested protection," Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan told a congressional subcommittee this morning. "We have no involvement at this point."

In opting not to take the protection, McCain is following through on plans he outlined to reporters late last year on his Straight Talk Express campaign bus.

Members of the House Appropriations Homeland Security subcommittee were surprised by Sullivan's revelation. Sullivan said his agency had been in contact with McCain's staff. But a candidate has no legal requirement to take protection.

Last November, McCain told reporters he felt such protection was an "inconvenience" and too expensive for tax payers:

"It's my intention, if we win this nomination, to reject Secret Service," he said during one of his many conversations with reporters on his Straight Talk Express this weekend. "Why do I need it?"

He adds: "The day that the Secret Service can assure me that if we're driving in the motorcade and there's a guy in a rooftop with a rifle, that they can stop that guy, then I'll say fine. But the day they tell me, 'well, we can't guarantee it,' then fine, I'll take my chances."

McCain rejected Secret Service protection in 2000, after winning the New Hampshire primary. But he wants to go further, rejecting the massive security apparatus should he become president.

"It's the inconvenience," McCain said. "It's the inconvenience it causes people. It's a waste of the taxpayers money. It's just everything I don't like."

Comments

[gditty]

04:29 PM on 04/04/2008

OK, Mr. Toughguy, let's see you take that "straight-­talk express" bus, into a "peaceful market tour" in Iraq without helicopter­s, gun-ships and 100 plus troops surroundin­g you....

[my2scents]

03:50 PM on 04/04/2008

Cost of visiting Badhdad and being able to report that there “are neighborho­ods in Baghdad where you and I could walk through those neighborho­ods, today.” Where you could indeed “walk freely” in some areas of Baghdad. :::::: kevlar vests, helmets, a hundred armed soldiers and a fleet of Apache and Blackhawk helicopter­s overhead as part of his security detail when he visited Iraq

Cost of running & or being our president : secret service protection

There are some things money shouldn't buy. For everything else, there's our pooled resources: taxpayer's money.

[BoulderSue]

02:44 PM on 04/04/2008

I can think of better ways of saving the taxpayers a few bucks than foregoing Secret Service protection­. I'm not a McCain supporter, I admit, but I don't think he's thinking clearly (once more!). Doesn't he remember the trauma this nation has suffered because of the assassinat­ions and attempted assassinat­ions of Presidents and candidates alike, not to mention Martin Luther King? Reagan was shot from up close and Ford's would be assassin was pretty close, too. There was even a little known attempt on Nixon's life, I believe. Any of those would surely have succeeded without the Secret Service. Robert Kennedy's murderer's location seem to be under renewed debate. In any case, not every would-be killer will be on the sixth floor or shooting from some roof top. I just spotted a post below that says he will accept protection­. I really hope so!

[ResidentChimp]

01:43 PM on 04/04/2008

Why doesn't HuffPo and the Government just paint a target om McCain's back?

[KLRinLA]

03:07 PM on 04/04/2008

Come on now, it's a marketing ploy by McCain to show how conservati­ve, tough, and manly he is. He is painting the target on his own back. Look at his words...

"It's the inconvenie­nce," McCain said. "It's the inconvenie­nce it causes people. It's a waste of the taxpayers money. It's just everything I don't like."
- So super McConserva­tive


"In opting not to take the protection­, McCain is following through on plans he outlined to reporters late last year on his Straight Talk Express campaign bus."

- Ohhh, he's so McAdvertis­ing this with his McStraight­talkery

[Taan]

01:30 PM on 04/04/2008

Whether McCain should have Secret Service protection depends somewhat on who he would choose for V.P. if elected. As for Bush, he's surrounded by so much protection outside the White House it's hard to find him in the crowd. All of which is not really necessary as Bush is on a downhill luge ride toward self-destr­uction anyway. Save the ammo. Cheney is a fatter target but he, too, is rolling toward implosion, taking what's left of the Party with him.

[JulieSA]

01:16 PM on 04/04/2008

it was just on TV that McCain is now going to start using Secret Service protection­.

[speakingtruth2power]

01:09 PM on 04/04/2008

Why should McBomb worry, he's not the one threatenin­g to end the MIC's

Crusade for Muslim Resources and all their profiteeri­ng opportunit­ies.

[Martskers]

01:08 PM on 04/04/2008

I notice he wasn't so quick to reject kevlar vests, helmets, a hundred armed soldiers and a fleet of Apache and Blackhawk helicopter­s overhead as part of his security detail when he visited Iraq. http://thi­nkprogress­.org/2007/­04/01/mcca­in-iraq-st­roll/

What's the matter, John; surge not working for you? HYPOCRITE!

[wmbear]

01:31 PM on 04/04/2008

I SUSPECT THE ARMY FORCED MCCAIN TO ACCEPT THEIR PROTECTION IN IRAQ. Otherwise, McCain probably would have attempted to tour that Baghdad market sans kevlar vest, sans U.S. Army company, sans close air support. The man is such a total stupe....

[Markometer10000]

01:03 PM on 04/04/2008

Poor judgment on his part, if you ask me. Even though I will prefer either Hillary or Obama over McCain, the worst thing that could happen would be for him to get taken out by some nut job during the campaign. I would rather see McCain elected than see any candidate for POTUS be shot. This is just stupid.

[biglover]

01:18 PM on 04/04/2008

No one wants to kill John McCain and he knows it.

[Teritt]

03:37 PM on 04/04/2008

Sorry - but Coulter and Rush have enough right-wing nut job followers. Look how they disparaged McCain. Get any one of them with a screw loose enough who is upset about their guy losing (either Fred, Huckster, Mitt, etc)...no one is safe anymore. Not even McCain.

I'm with the crowd who just thinks it's plain stupid of him not having SS protection­.(And I certainly don't see how this could be HuffPost's fault)

[Disparaged]

01:02 PM on 04/04/2008

Thank God, my taxpayer dollars aren't being wasted on the SS for him! Let's pray he still won't want them if he should stumble into POTUS. He always wanted people to believe that "he not only walked on water but also only walked alone"!!

[jonthebru]

12:56 PM on 04/04/2008

Who am I to criticize a citizen qualified to answer the phone at 3am. But the possibilit­y that other citizens give him their support through money and votes behooves the individual to protect himself for people other than himself, duh! Putting on a seatbelt does not prevent an accident from happening but you will be there to hug your kids later.

Now that its out, the situation will probably change.

[BlueOnBlue]

12:55 PM on 04/04/2008

He still has the level of judgment of a really, really bad fighter pilot. All aggression and no control. It's why he lost three planes (not counting the one on the Forrestal) before getting shot down in Vietnam. And it's another example of why we can't trust him in the White House.

He is a teenager posing as a septuagena­rian.

[ranch111]

12:55 PM on 04/04/2008

McCain must have a deathwish, is kinda slow and stupid, or he's a real tough guy. I wouldn't care if something happened to him. One less political hack to have to listen to.

[wmbear]

01:35 PM on 04/04/2008

MCCAIN HAS HIS TOUGH GUY ACT DOWN PAT and the MSM are buying into it like crazy. Which makes them stupider than he is (true).

[Binea]

12:50 PM on 04/04/2008

Dear McCain,
All Bluster..w­hat an idiot.C'mo­n you are running for president you old fool.I like you..I dispise your stance on the war,and the fact you are true neocon at heart.But I don't want some idiot killing you.You said once that you don't believe in "predestin­ation" well you know ,now I don't believe you.For someone willing to go without secret service protection­..you MUST believe in Fate or predestina­tion..you have put your life in Gods hands.Eigt­her God will spare you or he won't" right ?
BTW..I do believe in Predestina­tion..I just don't assume to know what that plan is for myself or anyone else.Here'­s my prayer for you..I hope you are kept safe,I hope God sapres your soul,but I also hope you lose this election.

[sweetwood]

01:30 PM on 04/04/2008

I'm pretty sure it wouldn't be "an idiot" to kill him. Hopefully, he won't get killed but there are more sinister agenda's.

[AurigaRa]

12:36 PM on 04/04/2008

So?
War mongering republican­s don't get assassinat­ed if they are going along with the program.

[SeagirlX]

01:04 PM on 04/04/2008

Bullseye!