Americans Catch A Glimpse Of The Real McCain

Well, what do you know? Somewhere in between the unctious mass media religious ceremonies held on air in his honor we have actually caught ourselves a glimpse of The Real McCain. Not the "maverick," or the "straight talker" or the man of more integrity than Superman + Batman + Abraham Lincoln combined, but The Real John McCain.

Now one can only hope we'll get a more balanced picture from our favorite media mavens. Although I wouldn't necessarily hold my breath on that one.

So let me do my best, as I do have a book coming out on him in May that coincidentally has been named The Real McCain (how many times have I used that phrase now?). The key thing to understand, is that as Republicans liked to say during the Clinton/Lewinsky saga in 1998, it's not the sex, it's the...well, actually, it's the sex too. John McCain named his bus the Straight Talk Express. You didn't. John McCain constantly references his unimpeachable integrity. You don't.

So he has chosen, through his media flacks' careful branding and the faithful transcribing of the adoring David Brookses of the world, to constantly portray himself in this manner. Therefore, whether he lives up to his Barry Goldwater meets The Beaver (the TV show, you nasty, dirty readers) persona is directly relevant here.

Most people probably don't know that his current wife, Cindy McCain nee Hensley, began as an affair while he was married to his first wife. You know, the one who took care of his kids and faithfully waited for his return from Vietnam (where, by the way, he absolutely served honorably, and showed the kind of courage I only wish he'd show in Washington). How very Newt Gingrich of him.

Many are also unaware, because somehow it has evaded the media's radar, that he's surrounded himself with more lobbyists than Jack Abramoff on a golf outing. Vicki Iseman, and his actions on behalf of her clients, is only the tip of the tip of the iceberg. Rick Davis, his campaign manager. Corporate lobbyist. Charlie Black, one of his chief advisors. Corporate lobbyist. We could continue, but The Huffington Post would cut me off and close the bar before I would finish.

John McCain has done many honorable things in his life. Some of them, such as his stances on campaign finance reform, a gun-show loophole and carbon emissions came during his brief period of political sanity, which lasted from about 1999 until 2004 (hmm, what happened in 2004 that might have changed things...).

But much of his tenure in Washington has been marred by behavior entirely at odds with the image that has been granted him. It's time the media told us the truth. We can handle the truth.

Comments

[ljsfolly]

We did learn Stepford Cindy has a voicebox when she said she is prud of her country... or so it's been said. I missed the video and have to believe it's true!!

[research]

Seems like lots of us have noticed that the pre 2004 McCain was a far better person.

McCain seems to have had a stroke. The Whole Botox rumor is also good cover for his slack facial muscles. Yeah, I heard about the cancer, but that was three separate times 1993, 2000, and 2002. I don't see why the cancer treatments would resemble a stroke, though they certainly cause strokes. He really seemed to lose his spirit about 2 years ago. For his sake, I hope he's fine, I still don't want him as president.

General mental and physical fitness SHOULD be an argument for elected office.

Let's see McCain's medical and mental fitness results. Let's see if he has had a stroke.

Obama's too, but I trust he's healthy and sharp.

[nancytheragingliberal]

It won't take much for Obama to get under his skin, then you will see that vicious, vicious temper of his. He must have been on meds. yesterday during his T.V. appearance with his wife.

We must ensure that he is not the next Pres. of the U.S. He will continue to push our courts to the far right, keep our teen age soldiers in Iraq for 100 years, while starting a war in Iran, bankrupt the pennies left in our treasury, give W. another man hug, so the W. machine can get more $ for him, announce that ol' Jeb Bush is his VP choice (Jeb the crook and Katherine Harris who handed FL to "dear Leader".....He must be stopped dead in his tracks by the intelligent citizens of our country.

[RaderBarbarian]

The self-destruction of yet another "Straight Talking" Republithug. Ya gotta love it! (Unless, that is, you happen to use the moniker "accord" he he he he he he he)

[oncethere]

Consider it a Given that anything that a"Sraight-Talking Republican" speaks out against, he is Doing in Excess. Thus, we have the following:

Rep. Foley speaking out against homosexuality or child abuse.
Sen. from Louisiana, speaking out aga Clinton's promiscuity
Sen. Craig speaking out aga Clinton and homosexuallity
Rev.whoever---there are so many of them---speaking out aga sin and immorality.

This is getting old.

[researcher]

what no ketting five. that stunt cost the american people billions.


the reopubs have one objective wealth enhancement for them.

some day too late the middle class in america will figure that out. but too late the middle class will become the second class.

nice knowing ya. give the repubs credit they took the middle class all the way to the cleaners again and again and again and well you get the picture.

[accord]

I never know this part of the story about him - the end is classic. I don't care who you are, you have to admit it is funny!

From Wikipedia:

McCain's A-4 Skyhawk had its wing blown off by a Soviet-made SA-2 anti-aircraft missile[48] while pulling up after dropping its bombs.[49][50] McCain fractured both arms and a leg in being hit and ejecting from his plane[51] as it went into a vertical inverted spin.[52] He nearly drowned after he parachuted into Truc Bach Lake in Hanoi.[47] After he regained consciousness, a mob gathered around, spat on him, kicked him, and stripped him of his clothes.[52] Others crushed his shoulder with the butt of a rifle and bayoneted him in his left foot and abdominal area; he was then transported to Hanoi's main Hoa Loa Prison, nicknamed the "Hanoi Hilton" by American POWs.[52][53]

Although McCain was badly wounded, his captors refused to give him medical care unless he gave them military information; they beat and interrogated him, but McCain only offered his name, rank, serial number, and date of birth,[52] Soon thinking he was near death, McCain said he would give them more information if taken to the hospital, hoping he could then put them off once he was treated.[54] A prison doctor came and said it was too late, as McCain was about to die anyway.[52] Only when the North Vietnamese discovered that his father was a top admiral did they give him medical care[52] and announce his capture. At this point, two days after McCain's plane went down, that event and his status as a POW made the front pages of The New York Times[40] and The Washington Post.[55] Interrogation and beatings resumed in the hospital; McCain gave his ship's name, squadron's name, and the attack's intended target.[56] Further coerced to give the names of his squadron members, he supplied the names of the Green Bay Packers' offensive line.[57][56]
---- Wikipedia

[Dervish105]

sort of tired of listening to all this "mccain war hero" talk. Scratch the surface and you will find that there are a lot of gaps in that story -- check out
http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/1999-03-25/news/is-john-mccain-a-war-hero/

[buzzsaw]

Watch him closely while he is speaking one to one with an interviewer. He is doing his best to keep his affect flat and to display zero emotion. He is so tightly controlled that he speaks almost in a raspy whisper that you never hear while out on the campaign trail. He is one overly-tightly wrapped dude....you can be sure the whispering voice would disappear if elected. Too much anger underneath.

[buzzsaw]

Watch him closely while he is speaking one to one with an interviewer. He is doing his best to keep his affect flat and to display zero emotion. He is so tightly controlled that he speaks almost in a raspy whisper that you never hear while out on the campaign trail. He is one overly-tightly wrapped dude....you can be sure the whispering voice would disappear if elected. Too much anger underneath.

[TXfemmom]

McCain is a typical neocon, let's face it. He has disguised his true self, by claiming to have morals and ethics which he lacked, and by claiming things and clinging to those claims, he has installed this veil around himself which he may very well have convinced himself he earned.

In the end, he learned nothing from the Keating affair, it was not an aberation in his behavior, he repeated the same errors, huge errors, in judgement and backed the same kind of people, over and over, and occasionally did something which would seem to back his reputation, which was self-appointed.

In the end, he is about money, power, perception, and the pursuit of the Presidency and power. As one of the pundits on CNN said about ten days ago, if the rest of the world and the United States thought they had seen the ultimate in arrogance, stubborness and inability to face the truth and admit the truth in George Bush, wait till they encountered the real John McCain.

[RobinAlecia]

Thank God finally we see McCain in the light. Now no longer do we see him through the media's eyes, but his real record and real self comes out of a story that the New York times printed. We can take the facts for ourselves and make an intelligent discision about who we want as our President.
Thats the real straight talk

[accord]

I'm sorry, where are you getting your information, if not the media? The NY Times IS media, you know... and liberal at that.

And if you think this untruthful "expose" is the real story, you have a lot to learn.

Or, do you think it may be true because it didn't come from the DailyKOS or MediaMatters?

[davedave]

perhaps mccain is a hero--but you can find heroes stacked up like cord wood in any veterans' administration hospital, and we're making more daily...

'limpin john ("..a war hero, don't like to talk about it, except around election time") was a carpetbagger to an easy congressional, then senatorial district here in arizona.

he promptly embroiled himself in an influence for sale imbroglio dubbed the "keating 5 scandal". an investigation of itself by the congress who concluded that these servants of the public trust shouldn't be tarred and feathered as they would be if life were fair.

he reinvented himself as the defender of the public and appeared to eschew the former "pay to play" and proceded to create an "play to play" reward system for his friends and "don't play better pray" for his enemies.

his wife was stealing percocet from a medical mission she was involved with. don't judge her too harshly, if this guy gets elected we'll all need the opiates to survive too...

from watching this guy (did i mention he was a war hero?) from day one in my home state, he would be a petty, spiteful, angry, narcissistic unpleasant man who would surround himself with fawning syncophants. if you like bush, you'll love mccain!

d

[accord]

The Democrats who investigated the Keating 5 didn't tar and feather them because 4 of the 5 were Democrats. The 5th person, McCain, was deemed completely innocent by the lead investigator (also a Democrat).

[davedave]

the "congresspersons" that did the investigations let the only republican (mccain) off w a warning... if mccain was so squeaky clean why did he find god and turn into the faux born again reformer? they were dirty little boys, democrat, republican, butcher, baker, candlestick maker.

fact checking is easy.
google/cut/paste

from wikepedia..The Keating Five were five United States Senators who were accused of corruption in 1989, igniting a major political scandal as part of the larger Savings and Loan crisis of the late 1980s and early 1990s. The five senators (pictured below) were accused of improperly aiding Charles H. Keating, Jr., chairman of the failed Lincoln Savings and Loan Association, which was the target of an investigation by the Federal Home Loan Bank Board.

After a lengthy investigation, the Senate Ethics Committee determined in 1991 that Alan Cranston, Dennis DeConcini, and Donald Riegle had substantially and improperly interfered with the FHLBB in its investigation of Lincoln Savings, while John Glenn and John McCain had been only minimally involved. The Committee recommended censure for Cranston and criticized the other four for "questionable conduct."

All five of the senators involved served out their terms, but only Glenn and McCain were subsequently re-elected.

[kempis]

Obama has something in common with McCain. Both claim to be far, far removed from lobbyists while both are (at least figuratively) in bed with them:

http://www.harpers.org/archive/2006/11/0081275

[SubparDude]

:

He has Honored the Maxim 'Quid pro Quim.'

:

[Independent voter]

Well written article and I completely agree with the content.

It seems that McCain has had quite a long free ride because of his POW status. I don't know the man, but I see glimpses of an irrational hothead, a vindictive little man in the things that he says and does.

This is not a man that I would trust with the nuclear football.

Again, good article

[jems]

It's funny but I'm in my mid 20's and I had no idea about the Keating 5 until a few weeks ago. It seems like McCain has gotten a HUGE pass from the media since being villified by Bush/Rove in South Carolina. It's time for a little straight talk.

[accord]

Keep in mind there was no shred of evidence to show he did anything wrong in the Keating 5 - and that was stated by a Democrat investigator.

[Thatcher]

Actually - he wasn't punished as much as the others because the investigation didn't turn up ENOUGH against him. They didn't claim he was innocent - but that his activities didn't rate the censure that the others received.

That is a BIG difference from "no shred".

[RaderBarbarian]

Yep, and Columbus REALLY discovered the Indies. Who do you think you are kidding, accord? Puleeeeeeze!