Leaks in McCain's Cone of Silence?

I must admit that listening to McCain answer Pastor Rick Warren's questions so quickly and glibly Saturday night at the Saddleback Faith Forum made me wonder if he somehow knew them in advance. He was so confident, so concise. But I put the thought aside as unduly paranoid -- that is until Sunday afternoon. I was routinely checking my favorite election website fivethirtyeight.com and the webmaster, Nate Silver, referred to a piece in Daily Kos about the whereabouts of John McCain for the first thirty minutes of Senator Obama's interview with Rick Warren. Was he in a cone of silence? Apparently not.

Daily Kos blogger Furiousxxgeorge wrote at 3:27 pm Pacific time the following blog:

Pastor Warren, the host of last night's forum was just on CNN. In an interview with Rick Sanchez the pastor admitted McCain was not even at the Church for the first half hour of the event. This admission comes as a surprise to those of us who watched the event and were told many times that McCain was at the Church and in isolation.CNN says they talked to McCain's camp and they said no one in his camp was listening. The honor system, are you kidding me?I think it is pretty clear at this point McCain did indeed know the questions in advance.

Is this a big deal or not? It seems like someone ought to ask both McCain and Warren what really happened. The "truthiness" of this Forum is at stake. Warren will be on CNN Monday night, August 18 at 9 pm Eastern/6 pm Pacific. Tune in and comment!

Update 1: Pastor Warren states that McCain told him he did not "hear" the questions. He was in a motorcade from his hotel to the church, arriving about 30 minutes into the Obama interview hour. McCain did not say whether anyone else on his staff "heard" the questions, however. http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/08/17/warren-mccain-did-not-violate-cone-of-silence/

Update 2: Warren has now given 2 or 3 different versions of which questions he told the candidates about prior to the event. First he said he told them about the orphan question and the abortion question. Then he said he told them about the "wise advisers" question and the "moral failure" question. That's four questions so far. Are there more?

Comments

[Donald Wolberg]

Reality strikes at the oddest times and frequently with an undeniable force and one can either confront reality or slip into the a dazed perception of the world. Unfortunately Mr. Obama has slipped badly in a series of not so much missteps as actually appearing to lack ability and substance. In the public appearances of both candidates, Mr. Obama first and Mr. McCain following, Mr. Obama was siply inadequate for the task whil Mr. Mccain was much the better informed, secure and candid. In response to a truly inadequate performance by Mr. Obama, party activists and others see Mr. McCain's superior familiarity with the specific subject matter as a sign of "special knowledge" or just cheating. One must remind Mr. Obama's supporters that unless prompted and specially prepared Mr. Obama is usually out performed by others. He did very poorly one on one with Ms Clinton, for example. It is clear tha Mr. Obama has many intellectual and policy challenges without the charm of Mr. McCain's candor.

[lilcorky]

The cheating accusation is only sour grapes if Senator Obama had done an inadequate job, which he did not. What was amusing about your post is that you believe that Senator McCain is informed (doesn't know Shiite from Sunni, has no idea Czechoslovakia no longer exists), secure (the most fundamentally elitist of his advisers are getting caught, supposedly released from the campaign and then found once again advising McCain because he is afraid to go forward without them) and candid (he lied throughout that entire interview, he did not part company with the Republicans on torture, etc., and the first statement out of his mouth was a lie because he talked about being sequestered when he was not).
Senator McCain is not charming, not sharp and not capable of "superior familiarity" about anything but being rich and spoiled. Please, America, do yourselves a favor and leave Republican dishonesty and dishonor behind.

[dsrapa]

I don't think there is anything wrong with being given the questions in advance...­.or even hearing the other guys answers. EXCEPT if you have been told that this is not the case.
the biggest problem with the election so far is that the american people, and apparently the press as well, have the attention spans of gnats.
More than a 3 word answer is more than we can handle (one word is even better).
These are difficult times and complicated issues. Like any good, thoughtful law professor, the candidate must look at all sides, or at least 2, think through the issues, develop an opinion and then an argument. Obama actually appears to be thinking. I guess that confuses us. by the way, does anyone know where the gates of hell are? And haven't we been trying to defeat evil for about 5,000 years? didn't god give it a try as well? And you think that's candor....­you gotta be kidding!

[rebelle]

The Republican jihad's motto:
Lie, Steal, Cheat and murder all in the name of God
Trample the week and middle class, hurdle the dead bodies we leave in our pursuit of more profits!!

[yallkiddn]

Ah-h-h-h-h-h-h-h men-n-n-n-n-n-n!

[Kwaayesnama]

In my bible the fifth commandment reads simply and clearly: “Thou shalt not kill”.
Rick Warren a supposed man of God should have questioned John McCain and Barack Obama if invading a country in false pretenses and killing and maiming thousands if not millions of people is MURDER.

[learnsomething]

It was all a waste of Obama's time. The religious right-wing have their minds set already on McCain, and always have.

[yallkiddn]

Agreed.

[JC1c1]

I love how those in the media say this is all to do about nothing, when McCain out right lied. When he first came on Warren asked him how he liked the cone of silence. He said he had his ear pressed up against the wall. Not once did I hear him say anything about a motorcade. Not once did I hear McCain mention that he was was late, therefore not in the "cone of silence."

I dont know if he knew the questions, but I do know he wasnt in the cone, and had a chance to admit to that night, from that question, he didnt, he lied.

Anyone can say what you want about the questions, wether he heard them or not, but you can say that McCain got on that stage and lied.

[AlexisAshley]

Please tell that you are aware that there is no such thing as a "cone of silence" Rev. Warren was joking!

[nerakami]

No... many of us took the Rev Warren's words as being truthful..­. why should we have assumed that he was joking...

the integrity of the entire "forum" depended on it...

[deminmo]

Wrong. On Larry King Warren said he didn't know McCain
hadn't arrived after the forum started, and assumed when he
(McCain) arrived would be put into a "green room". Warren said
before the forum started he told Obama the gist of two questions
he intended to ask, but McCain was not there at that time.

[schicklett3]

The most important thing, to me, is this - the dishonesty.
Did the McCain camp lie about the whereabouts of McCain when the forum started?
If so, then they are evil and they must be defeated. ;)

The entire dishonest way the forum was conducted is the problem here - there was no winner or loser at the debate, IMO. McCain should have been firmly seated in the green room before the debate even started, with no outside access to anything or anyone.

If anyone in the McCain camp, including McCain, knew the questions beforehand and heard Senator Obama's answers, then this is DISHONEST, and dishonesty is just another term for liar.

The Reverend assured viewers that McCain was IN the green room - now we learn he was not.
McCain assured us he did not hear Obama's answers or know the questions - but do we believe him?

The forum has a dishonest allure to it that makes the good reverend look bad simply because he told us McCain was secluded away. Bad reverend, bad. McCain looks like a cheater. The McCain camp look like whiners because they took on NBC over Andrea Mitchell (who was vindicated), and the truth whether McCain had the questions and answers of the first 30 minutes will never be known.
Some things you just can't take on faith....J­Ohn McCain being one of them.

[Sixtwo]

I am with you fellow American! I have replayed/listened to the fourm serveral times and I absolutely conclude that McCain knew in advance the questions that would be asked. He had a "prepared" political response to the questions; and, in addition, several times he started to answer questions on Rev. Warren's list BEFORE he got to ask them!!! Republicans have proven time and time again that they cannot be trusted; that nothing is too evil for them to do in order to win--even the lives of the American and other people, as proven by the way the Iraq war was started. Republicans have admitted that McCain was in his hotel room when the forum began and did not arrive at the church until a half hour later. Even as truths about matters of concern to the American people are revealed, the Republicans continue to spread lies! Someone will will the election and someone will lose; however, the race should be HONORABLY run!

[Marilynleigh34]

McCain did a better job. Get over it. Will you whine every time McCain wins a debate?

[Don Davis]

McCain Breaks Cone of Silence, Proving He’s a Man of the ’50s: The Quiz Show Scandals!
http://satiricalpolitical.com/?p=2642

[keepemhonest]

Transcript shows Warren TOLD McCain that McCain knew ALL the questions!

Read the transcript:
McCain: Are we going to get back to the importance of Supreme Court justices, or should I mention it?
REV. WARREN: We will get to that.
SEN. MCCAIN: Okay. All right. (Laughter.­) Okay.
REV. WARREN: Man, you're jumping ahead. You know all my questions.­”

Check that out, McCain knew ALL the questions in advance.

Read Transcript:
http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2008/08/transcript_of_obama_mccain_at.html

[Svendem]

Well, at least the question about Supreme Court justices.

[tojoi]

Okay, okay. Everybody cries when it doesnt appear to go their way. But as difficult as it might be I want all you McCainiacs to TRY to use a smidgeon of common sense on this one. Dirty politics = Republicans. Okay. They jump on every opportunity to cheat and get the upper hand in all the elections. We live in a world of technology and even though McCain doesn’t know how to use it I’m sure he’s surrounded by those who do.

Now picture this. Youre cruising down the x-way secluded with your homeboys in a dark-windowed limo headed to a Q&A and somebody just happens to turn on a cute little techno gizmo that’s spewing the live telecast. Do you (A) tell him to turn it off because youre not supposed to hear the questions in advance or (B) perk and listen like hell and make a solemn oath that nobody heard nothing! Things that make you go.... hmmmmm.

[margj]

The whole joke about the Cone of Silence in Get Smart was that it *never* worked, it was *always* broken...d­id no one else think it odd that Rick Warren used the cone of silence term to describe McCain's supposed silent sequestration during Obama's interview? Sorry about that Chief...mi­ssed it by that much

[Bushwillresign]

Here is one question copied and pasted from the CNN website. http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0808/16/se.02.html

QUESTION: Not good. 80 percent of Americans recently polled said they believe in merit pay. Now, for teachers, do you - I'm not asking do you think all teachers should get a raise. Do you think better teachers should be paid better? They should be paid more than poor teachers?

MCCAIN: Yes, yes, and find bad teachers another line of work. (APPLAUSE).

WARREN: You know, we're going to end this, you're answering so quickly. You want to play a game of poker?

Why did Warren make his comment? McCain just had a quick, concise and eloquent answer to the question. Can you find anything wrong with Mccain's answer?

The question above was for Obama!! Here is McCain's question:

WARREN: About 80 percent of America says they support merit pay for the best teachers. Now, I don't want to hear your stump speech on education.

MCCAIN: Yes, yes, and find bad teachers another line of work. (APPLAUSE).

WARREN: You know, we're going to end this, you're answering so quickly. You want to play a game of poker?

I don't see how this answer fits the question. How could he have answered the question Warren asked Obama if he didn't hear it in advance? Warren asked McCain a different question than he asked Obama.

[GooeyButter]

The thing about cheaters is that they'll caught in good time. With Mccain, he'll not just get caught; he'll get raped in a landslide.

[Ratso]

I am mystified by the lefties. Whenever your guy gets beaten, it is always unfair or the other guy cheated. Face it, Obama's style ws not conducive to the interview process. His hesitations, stuttering etc. show a man who needs more time. Perhaps McCain is not the right choice for president. Certainly W was a mess, but Mccain is a better choice in these dangerous times. Kennedy, Reagan types are needed for these times. BYT, Obama was given 1 question before hand that McCain was not.

[Sixtwo]

And, McCain's style is not conducive to the future of America! Anyone who is concerned about his or her own welfare and the welfare of future generations should seriously consider whether they would rather have someone leading the country who STOPS TO THINK, and WEIGH PROS AND CONS, than someone who is gun happy and shoots from the lip and the hip! That's how we got into the Iraq war, lost the respect of our allies around the world, lost credibity here at home, and on and on and on--losses and failures.

[Vurz]

So, either Warren knew McCain wasn't there and lied to his congregation, or McCain lied to Warren about being there. So either Warren feels it is fine to lie to his congregation, or McCain feels it is fine to lie to a Minister and his congregation.

Either way, vacuous morality. In both Warren and McCain's case the Bible talks about judging the people who set themselves up as teachers much more harshly as judgment will be for everyone else.

[MarciL]

Warren and McCain need to be called out on this. It's unethical.

[TopDog]

That is ok the JM got the questions in advance so he could make coherent statements without spacing out, great trick. Maybe next time, he goes first. There is no way he will be able to keep it up through the next 3 months. The cat will be let out of the bag. He got lucky this time. It is going to be a landslide.

[gardener1964]

To assume that McCain didn't listen in is about the same as assuming that my dog won't eat a steak falling to the floor.And pretending he has a the slightest bit of character is a waste of time.This man will do anything to become Potus,stopping at nothing.