McCain Assures Town Hall That Death Stalks The Supreme Court Justices

Earlier today, John McCain gave one of his famous Straight Talk Express Town Hall Extravaganza Applesauce Chat Revival Shows in York, Pennsylvania, and during the Q&A section, said something jarring with regard to his "conservative stance" on issues. Seeking to reassure the questioner that he has only the best intentions for fans of hardcore conservative judicial activism, he told the questioner that there were going to be two-to-three vacancies on the Supreme Court soon. This was, in McCain's words, "According to people who decide these things."

But SCOTUS justices have lifetime appointments! So, who are "people" that "decide these things?" Absent any other explanation, one has to assume that McCain is in close contact with the Grim Reaper himself. It makes me wonder what McCain knows of the plans that Pestilence and Famine have for America between now and the year 2013. Naturally, you can pretty much assume that McCain is following War on Twitter.

Comments

[OgreDaddy]

07:50 AM on 08/17/2008

If you are truly an American you know that the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights already
protect your FREEDOM to make a well informed "personal" decision.

The Constitution does not give anyone the right to FORCE their own "personal" beliefs on others.

Any true Constitutional Conservative would never allow anyone to undermine these Constitutional protections.

Unfortunately, religious conservatives feel compelled to dictate their "personal" beliefs
on others, but this is the very reason our founding fathers gave each of us
THE FREEDOM to follow our own hearts, to consider all of our options and to make a well informed
"personal" decision.

[Rider3]

08:10 PM on 08/13/2008

How can he be taken seriously any longer? He's got a neurological issue that will only get worse. He is no longer healthy enough for the presidency.

[SeeDaddy]

01:55 PM on 08/13/2008

What he really said was that the people who tell him what to say, what his positions and proposals are, write the scripts he reads, and direct every aspect of his campaign, have told him that. He didn't figure it out himself. These will be the same people who will direct and control him and make his decisions if, God forbid, he became the president.

I'm 61 and I can see that Mc no longer has the understanding, memory or capability to deal with complex issues. I see some of the same early signs of dementia that Ronald Reagan had in his second term - forgetfulness of common words and ideas, irritability, confusing issues and events, having to read his statements rather talking off the cuff, sleeping long ours with day time naps. The symptoms are there.

[Erin66]

10:42 PM on 08/16/2008

I think you're exactly right. McCain no longer speaks, thinks, or does anything for himself. He has lobbyist/advisers around him AT ALL TIMES telling him what to say, and his views differ from day to day. Too bad he doesn't have the mental capacity to figure this out for himself.
I had a lot more respect for him 8 years ago.

[blaising]

08:48 AM on 08/13/2008

This is classic McCain. He's a big believer in what I refer to as the "they syndrome". It's really a kind of childish superstition, a belief in a mysterious, all-controlling power represented by all the people we don't know.

Sweeping wisdom qualified only by "they' and "everybody". Who are "they" and "everybody"?

Obama has a much different take on this. He knows that "they" and "everybody" is, simply, us.

[Erin66]

10:51 PM on 08/16/2008

This reminds me of the Gary Larsen cartoon from YEARS ago! A guy is looking into an office labelled "THEY" and there is one guy answering a bunch of phones. The clip says, "So this is who 'They' is in "That's what THEY say".

[SSF]

02:21 AM on 08/13/2008

With the possibility of one, perhaps two vacancies on the Supreme Court and the rights and liberties of all the people of America at stake, do we really want a sexist ignoramus like McCain in the White House selecting candidates of HIS choosing!?! All you PUMAs and pro-McCain people out there better start using your brains before it's too late!

[riverhead]

12:27 AM on 08/13/2008

OK you Hillary women ... JM has a point here. Stevens is 436 years old (ok 88). You're really not going to vote for BO; really? So, say goodbye to your right to choose.

[RatgurlSD]

12:46 AM on 08/13/2008

Riverhead, you're wasting your breath.... PUMAs are all post-menopausal & therefore could give a CR4P about reproductive rights. It's all about women now.

Sad, huh? They can't even think about their kids, their grandkids, their nieces, or their friends. It's all about self.

[WFV]

08:31 AM on 08/13/2008

Agreed. This is one of the biggest issues I have with the Poomas - they (like their candidate) only care about themselves. What about the women who follow them? They just don't care.

[BCubedReg]

09:45 AM on 08/13/2008

No. It's all about Hillary. It's not even about self or they would vote their self interest and not be voting for McCain.

[MiddleRoadLiberal]

11:25 PM on 08/12/2008

His choice of wording is idiotic to be sure, but it's a generally accepted possibility of two to three justices retiring in the next presidential term (and that's not including the unforseeable, and deeply saddening possibility of death). What's worse is that most likely the next two to three justices who will retire will be the more liberal ones, thus if McCain wins the presidency we'll have an almost all extreme right-wing SC. If Obama wins, then we'll probably have the same balance as today (almost equal with the right-wingers having the upper-hand).

[Ohiomom]

07:53 AM on 08/13/2008

McCain sounds goofier every time he goes on his long tirades. The more he talks, the older his ideas appear, and his apparent inability to think clearly becomes apparent. Comedian Lewis Black said that the Republicans should have nominated McCain in 2000 "....when he was sane....."

[Birdman]

11:14 PM on 08/12/2008

He is either talking to the Grimm Reaper or has other means to rid the supremes of unsavory justices. Quite frankly I would not be surprized by anything the republicans would attempt, after all they are all about winning at any cost.

[Zoolie]

10:06 PM on 08/12/2008

Who was supposed to be supervising him and speaking for the campaign today? Better fire them.

[NotFooledByDistractions]

09:54 PM on 08/12/2008

Man, mccain is layin' the fear mongering on pretty darned thick these days. He's a real downer.

[NoahVail]

09:17 PM on 08/12/2008

He made a deal with the devil.

[TheHandyman]

10:47 PM on 08/12/2008

I think he is an older, stupider version of him!

[All4One08]

08:21 PM on 08/12/2008

"According to people who decide these things." This is what is scary about this guy along with the fact that John doesn't speak for his campaign and they had to limit him from talking on his cell phone to people before he speaks, I guess his is too easily influenced by suggestions! Scary anyway you look at it.

[Doofus]

08:06 PM on 08/12/2008

What happened to Lieberman or Lindsey Graham or whomever was
supposed to be explaining McCain's views today? Should he not get
a permanent spokes-person?

'What the Senator clearly meant, in his straight-talking sort of way,
was that noted gerontologists have determined that folks over the age
of seventy cannot handle the day-to-day stress of passing judgement, have
outlived their usefulness & should retire either forthwith or forcibly!'

Casting? Get me Dana Perino...

[Doofus]

08:45 PM on 08/12/2008

Further, it has been said that McCain does NOT necessarily
(or at all times) speak for his own campaign. Does that help? How?

[Doofus]

08:46 PM on 08/12/2008

As McCain might ask, 'How old am I exactly, again?'

[BCubedReg]

09:49 AM on 08/13/2008

And since McCain also falls into that gerontologist group, he also needs to retire forthwith.

[neocon666]

07:15 PM on 08/12/2008

I didn't realize that John McCain was on such good speaking terms with death. Unfortunately for John, that usually means that the interest is mutual.

[TheHandyman]

10:46 PM on 08/12/2008

Do you think that John doesn't suspect that the Grim Reaper may not be talking about those Justices at all?

[HC4BO]

07:15 PM on 08/12/2008

Hey why is no one talking about McSame's Presumptuousness by claiming he " speaks for every American" ... ?

Even Busch does NOT go that far in his Russia-Georgia conflict statements ...

[mindact]

07:40 PM on 08/12/2008

I wonder why nobody is calling him out. We're not all Georgians. Georgia attacked a small breakaway nation that seeks to be independent from Georgia, just as Georgia became independent of the soviet Union. They're facing the repercussions. Even Colin Powell had scolded the idiot of a leader they have to be more rational, but he thinks he's super man. now the country is suffering for his fatalistic instincts. The invasion of South Ossetia by Georgia was a major escalation that resulted in a major response.

My Prediction, the president of Georgia will be ousted in Six months. The Georgian's are rallying around him now because the bombs are still flying. Nato is not going to accept Georgia at this time, pariticularly with an irrational idiot like him on the throne...

[foxbat]

09:04 PM on 08/12/2008

I guess when you call youself a citizen of the world, even if we all actually are, it makes you presumptuous ... aka conservative for "uppity." But it's OK that we are all Georgians? What's wrong with this picture?

Obama's too nice a guy to point this out, but I would imagine that there's a Dem 527 thinking about it.