NY Times, Washington Post Confirm Arianna's Story That McCain Did Not Vote For Bush

On Monday, Arianna reported that John McCain told her he had not voted for George W. Bush in 2000. Today, both The New York Times AND The Washington Post published articles with sources confirming John McCain had indeed told Arianna and others at an event that he did not vote for Bush in 2000.

From The New York Times:

Did Senator John McCain not vote for George W. Bush in 2000?

That question has kicked up a minor ruckus in political circles this week as Arianna Huffington and the McCain campaign have traded he-said, she-said barbs...

Now two other guests at the same dinner, given by the actress Candice Bergen, at her home in Beverly Hills, say they heard much the same thing as Ms. Huffington. Both of them, the former "West Wing" actors Bradley Whitford and Richard Schiff, were asked by Ms. Huffington to speak to The New York Times. Mr. Whitford said he would be supporting the Democratic nominee and had donated to Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama; Mr. Schiff is supporting Mr. Obama.

From The Washington Post:

In separate phone interviews, Bradley Whitford and Richard Schiff -- both of whom starred in the television political drama "The West Wing" -- said the senator made the remarks after he spoke at length about his reservations about Bush becoming president. Liberal blogger Arianna Huffington first wrote about the incident Monday, asserting neither McCain nor his wife Cindy backed Bush in his first presidential bid, and the Los Angeles Times reported Wednesday that a woman who was also at the dinner confirmed Huffington's account, though she declined to give her name. ...

"He was going on and on about how horribly unqualified and untested Bush was, how the campaign had attacked his family," said Whitford, a registered Democrat. "Someone said, 'If he's so terrible, why did you support him?'"

McCain replied that as a member of the GOP, Whitford added, he always intended to back the party's nominee. Then, the actor said, someone asked McCain whether he had cast a vote in favor of Bush.

"He put his finger up to his lips, shook his head and mouthed, 'No way,'" Whitford said.

The Los Angeles Times talked to another source from the party on Wednesday that also corroborated Arianna's account:

Another woman who attended the 2001 dinner said Tuesday that Cindy McCain had told her she could not bring herself to vote for Bush. The source said she did not want to be identified, so as not to alienate the McCains.

Comments

[JimGroom]

He just had a senior moment. He just forgot...the poor old soul.

[Dadam]

If McCain had any guts he'd say, 'Of course I didn't vote for him, the disgusting smears he and Karl Rove perpetrated against my family were shameful. Why would I vote for someone like that?' But, the old "Maverick" can't bring himself to do that. What leadership.

[syrupcore]

Couldn't agree more.

[Law35]

Ditto!

[josephjsalas]

First Al-Quada is from Iran, then this. I'm confused. But why is McCain?

[charlesvan5000]

It is imparative to ask John McCain the following question:

"If you weren't running, and George W. Bush were allowed to run for a 3rd term, would you vote for him?"

This question must be asked.

[kdubbg]

+1 on that one. I could not agree more.

[KillTheMessenger]

OK... three possibilities:

He lied back then. Bad.
He is lying now. Worse
He does not remember. Worst.

Dear Republican voters, you are presented with some rather unpleasant truths about your presidential candidate... and none of the logical explanations is any good. You have six months to come up with a rationalization why you will vote for him, anyway. Make it a good one.

[S1m0n]

I think John McCain is capable to saying anything at all if he's had a couple of sniffs of booze and he's playing to an audience.

So, he could have told a table full of liberalish guests in hollywood he voted one way, playing the bigshot, and other tables of other guests something else on other occasions. Neither will have any particular relation to the truth; it'll all be about what he thought would impress the audience he was in front of at that moment.

[Davwbaird]

He is a corrupt republican and those are the kind us republicans like.

[Doofus]

If we count up the number of people who did NOT vote
for Bush back in the day, surely he would never have
won the presidency. No question about it.

255 days of glory remaining. You can count them too.

[THEhillbilly]

If the McCains really said that--and of course it's far more likely that you're having a "Hillary-in-Bosnia moment" than that McCain is lying--he was, as the British would say, "Taking the piss out of you."

Anyway, it's cool, in a cartoonish sort of way, that you think this is a biggie and that you recruited a couple of tendentious dingleberries and those two Paragons of Parajournalism (New York Times and Washington Post) to parrot that nugatory nonsense. It shows how trivial you are. Way below simply petty.

"The source said she did not want to be identified, so as not to alienate the McCains."
(snicker) Yeah, right.

Anyway, despite the sheer, unadulterated insignificance of this "big deal," it's especially amusing that you and your herd of "me too" posters here will be trying to fit it into the "more of the same" cant you've been sputtering and will be ramping up in the next few months.

[tbrnotb]

Just add this to the other "insignificant" stories from the last 7 years: WMD's, Waterboarding, Katrina, Drum beats on war with Iran, No Child Left behind, no bid contracts, Viceroy Bremer and his shocking ill-advised decisions.......
Well the list just goes on. Now we have ANOTHER lying SOB ready to take control of our government....and YOU, sir or madam feel this is just a bunch of (insert Agnewisms here).

It's because of people like you, this country is quickly becoming irrelevant to the world. Way to go!

[THEhillbilly]

'Just add this to the other "insignificant" stories from the last 7 years: WMD's, Waterboarding, Katrina, Drum beats on war with Iran, No Child Left behind, no bid contracts, Viceroy Bremer and his shocking ill-advised decisions.......'

Wow! McCain did all that?! (snicker)

I reckon you intended to try to dispute what I said. I hope you're as disappointed as I am that you ran out of froth before you got around to it. I can see that your attempt would have been amusing.

[Nutcase]

You sound so certain. One would guess that you also attended that particular party. Surely no one would make such uncompromising claims as you without firsthand knowledge.

Je pense, donc je suis un populiste.

[TheHandyman]

Your name is so apropos of the way you think. I guess way back in them thar woods nothing is all that impo'tant 'cept killing coons.

[THEhillbilly]

When something stimulates your posting reflex, it would be a fine idea to restart your breathing , calm yourself and then wait until you at least think you have something to say before you let it lead you into such a sophomoric tantrum. You probably are as ignorant as your comment illustrates, but you really need to learn to resist the urge to evidence it.

[nsc]

Scientific proof exists that self-described conservatives are less intelligent than self-described liberals. Your comment is just anecdotal evidence supporting that fact.
Many people would like Republicans to just go away. Get back on your boats or whatever and stop messing up the country with your inbred inferiority.

[THEhillbilly]

No scientific proof is needed to establish the fact that only illiteracy can explain where you got "self-described conservative" from the facts I mentioned. However, only profound illiteracy can explain where you thought you saw an anecdote in what I said. The bimbo's story is an anecdote. Look it up...of get someone to do it for you.

I said look for some "me too" posters, and here we have "nsc," a lamer calling itself "the handyman," a "tbrnotb," and a "nutcase." Trying to defend the bimbo's story and managing to say only "boo hoo" and the like. I love this site.

[indieminded]

That photo is just plain pathetic......

[txbyrd]

I find the picture pathetic too, but perhaps for different reasons. I dont mind the transparent liberal bias of Huffington. But to stoop to silly photos can make you look less credible.
Just stick to opinion. Leave the juvenile smarminess to Fox.

[Nutcase]

But, sometimes silly photos reflect silly moments. It's difficult for me to imagine getting that close to W without losing my cookies but McCain seems to cling as would a baby chimp..

Ich denke, folglich bin ich ein Populist.

[txbyrd]

I don't really care who he voted for.
I DO care if he is lying. If so, pretty hard blow to the 'straight talk express.'

[mari2JJ]

Of course Arianna was telling the truth. Look, McCain recently even lied about his Church membership in North Phoenix Baptist Church when he was trying to impress the far right. He had never even been baptized the way Baptists require. Imagine telling a fib about something like that. A totally useless bit of lies but he wanted to convince the far right he was one of them. However, North Phoenix Baptist Church (the church that he supposedly had membership in) is very progressive and membership there is not enough to claim your devotion to the hate-mongering far right. Anyway, the far right has been so absolutely exposed for their self-centerdness and their attitude to let the country go down the tube for all they care. If one lies about Church Membership to make a hit with the neocons, how much of a leap is it to lie about whether you voted for Bush or not. Besides, if he did vote for Bush after the "Black Baby" incident, he is just crazy and has a total lack of judgment. How great it was that Arianna was able to get the incontrovertible facts out. Indeed, McCain has sold his soul to the far right and he has lost his "straigth talk" ways if indeed, he ever had any.

[nsc]

If he was waterboarded, perhaps that counts.

[LionelMandrake]

McCain is as sad a relic of a former man as I can think of.
That it is required of a man, to lose what it is that makes him one, to become a republican presidential candidate is truly tragic.
Though I never agreed with McCain's ideology, I could always find common ground with him when his integrity demanded he take positions contrary to his party. (e.g. his past positions on tax cuts, torture, and rejecting religious agents of intolerance...)
Now this shell of a man, after having courted, embraced and kissed these supposedly christian charlatans, after having shed his integrity by literally embracing Bush, (and his tax cuts), and by now approving the use of torture, he has descended further by becoming nothing more than a common liar. And, one whose lie is easily caught.
Once again, it is not the act that is the problem, (whether he voted for Bush or not is inconsequential), but it's the cover-up, and the hubris to think they can bury the lie by the old tried and true GOP tactic of destroying the messenger, and get away with it.
It would be nice for a change if the media would follow up on this lie, -though miniscule, compared to lies about weapons of mass destruction, -a glaring indictment of his forever lost honesty and integrity.

[hydenorhare]

"It takes 2 to lie. One to lie and one to listen"

Homer Simpson

[koromuso]

I should make clear that I'm a Democrat and I support Obama, just so you won't have to go back and read my other posts. I just think this McCain story is silly.

So McCain lied. So what? Maybe he lied to Ariana and the others at the dinner party, just because he was (justifyibly) angry with Bush and he wanted to express his anger in some way. We can't know how he really voted because votes are secret. In other words, we can't know if he lied to Huffington or he lied to O'Reilly.

Lying to people at a dinner party...lying to someone on Fox, these are not "impeachable offenses."

[prisskitajoe]

We are not talking about "impeachable offenses." We're talking about a pattern of lying when it's convenient. If you lie just to save face, then how can we believe anything you say while you are on the campaign stump.

[Beaucat]

No, it's not an impeachable offense. Maybe he was lying at the dinner party because he didn't want the Hollywood crowd to decide he was unworthy of their company because he'd voted for Bush.

But he did lie, according to people who were there. And we've had notorious liars in the White House for the past 16 years, and I think people are pretty tired of it. It would be nice to have a leader who had at least a passing acquaintance with the truth and some measure of respect for it.

[dartagnan]

They are not impeachable offenses, but they do say something about the man's honesty and integrity -- or his lack of those qualities.

[CarlsV]

"In other words, we can't know if he lied to Huffington or he lied to O'Reilly."

He lied to one of them sparky!

Kinda like you're doing now pretending to be a Dem ...

[koromuso]

Oh, please....what have we here? A shoot the messanger post?

I think most people understand that politicians tell the electorate what they think it wants to hear. In other words, they lie. Obviously McCain lied to SOMEBODY, but there is absolutely no way to determine who he lied to.

I just think it's silly to make a big deal out of this. McCain is doing everything he possibly can to self-destruct without us blowing dinner party chit-chat out of all proportion. The fact that his campaign accused Obama of playing "the age card," is a wonderful example. Nothing Obama said implied that McCain was too old to be President, but McCain's response REINFORCES in everyone's mind the fact that he is pretty freakin' old.

[Susan60]

But do we want a liar for President? Ummmm, no. So I do think that lying at a dinner party and then when you are called on it, lying in the response is a big deal.
Is he that desperate for Bush's support that he would care what Bush says now? I would be proud not to have voted for Bush if Bush spread nasty and ugly rumors in the form of a whisper campaign about my family. It shows his true character. i certainly wouldn't be denying it now and lying about it. Lying is a big deal when you consider the presidency. Remember a war we were lied into? Yah, that one. The one we are still fighting and our service men and women are still dying for. THAT LIE.

[THEhillbilly]

"But do we want a liar for President?"

Nope. "I didn't know he was saying that stuff. " -- Grandiloquent, Done-Nothing senator Barack Obama, referring to Jeremiah Wright, his "spiritual adviser."

We will always have a liar for president, as long as we continue to elect politicians.

Anyway, it's far more likely that Huffington is lying ("having a Hillary-in-Bosnia moment). She says stuff like this to get people to look at her while she babbles the name of her book. If she isn't lying, then she just wasn't able to see that McCain was must messing with her mind. The funny part is that she and her sheep are now stuck in a "McCain is the same as Bush/McCain didn't vote for Bush" contradiction."

It's too bad that the Democrats couldn't come up with a better candidate that Hillary Clinton.

[EvgenyLibek]

I am troubled by this lie, but more troubled that he insinuated that Ariana was lying (the "consider the source" comment).

Lying is one thing, but falsely declaring somebody else a liar is beyond shameful.
To attempt to impeach her credibility in such a fashion is, I believe, an impeachable offense.

And, why lie to defend Bush?
This is the worst President in the history of the United States -- even Republicans agree.
We all know the tactics that Bush's campaign used against McCain in 2000.
So, Why not give people a "straight talk" response?

Something like:
"Yes, I am afraid it is true -- though I did endorse the Republican nominee back then, I could not, in the privacy of the voting booth, vote for the tenderfoot cowboy. I have since forgiven uncurious Bush's negative campaign against my family's good name. I regret that I could not vote for a fellow Republican at that time, but I was balls-on, dead accurate to vote against silver-spoon's inheritance."

OK, I am going a little overboard, of course, but the point is, the majority of Americans would have loved it, and McCain's popularity would soar. It might even disarm the change argument.

[hydenorhare]

He was still in a "suck up to Liberals" campaign mode ... maybe he lied to Candice Bergen and the rest of the dummies.

[jrldev]

We should keep a "golfer's score card" to see which of the two - McCain or Clinton - lies the
most within the remaining weeks of the primaries.
At present the odds are 3/2 for Hillary

[hydenorhare]

No fair starting now.

[CarlsV]

Once our primary is over and the spotlight turns in mclames direction the lies (current and historic) from him will dwarf any others ... combined!

[koromuso]

Arriana, what are you thinking, making a big deal out of this?

These days saying you didn't vote for Bush has GOT to be seen as a plus. Okay, so McCain lied on some news show on television...but now he can at least claim he showed good judgement in not voting for W. He voted for himself, alright? So did his wife. It would be a scandal if he had voted for Gore or Nader. But he didn't, he voted for himself. A Republican.

If I were McCain, I'd be shouting this to the highest hill....I'd even tell a golden daffodil.

[hydenorhare]

I think that song is what did it for Arianna's marriage.

[prisskitajoe]

It shows that McCain has embraced the policies of a president who he says "was untested" and "unqualified". Why would you embrace Bush's policies if he's not qualified, and if he's not qualified, why not run against his policies instead.

[4wehttam]

You said: "These days saying you didn't vote for Bush has GOT to be seen as a plus."

Problem is this was said in 2000, not recently. If it was seen as a plus now, he would say so, but he knows it will hurt him with his party.

[mlaiuppa]

Flip Flopper!

[debrouillard]

As much as this can be humiliating that a GOP nominee wasnt so GOP not so long ago,It can also be percieved as a plus for McCain.He and his wife as opposed to many Americans thought Bush was a bad idea,and they were right on the money.