The Coming Storm (or, why McCain as Nominee is Great for Democrats)

Several weeks ago, I was clicking through John McCain's presidential campaign website. In the "Events" section I found a listing for a June 13 Townhall Meeting in Pemberton, New Jersey; I decided to attend.

McCain did not pick me out of the crowd to ask a question on live TV, but I was able to speak with him as the event wound down.

This is how it went:

Right after the speech, I knew McCain would work the rope line. Since I was in the front row, it only took me about three steps to get there.

I spoke loudly:

"Senator McCain - I noticed you aren't wearing your flag lapel-pin. May I give you mine?"

McCain: "Yes, sir, you can" (what else was he going to say? - he really wasn't wearing a flag pin.)

now I had him front and center...

"Senator, I spent four years in the Marines"

McCain: "Thank you for your service."

"Oh, no sir, thank you for yours. I have a feeling this is as close as I will ever come to pinning a medal on you." (said as I'm fastening the lapel pin) "Senator - you know our motto is Semper Fidelis - always faithful?"

McCain: "Oh yes, I do"

"Well have you always been faithful to Cindy McCain?"

Deer-in-the-mother-fucking-headlights.

McCain: "Oh no... that's not what I'm going to talk about."

"Have you been faithful to your wife? You won't answer? C'mon - how 'bout a little of that straight talk?"

(crowd beginning to get angry - hissing)

McCain: "Young man, I will tell you that I have a son serving in Iraq in the Marines."

"Yes - I know. I know a lot about you. Have you cheated on Cindy McCain? Why won't you answer?"

McCain turned away.

(All of the aforementioned was caught on film and microphone by the networks. As far as I know, it has not been released and probably won't be. [When I asked Senator Allen - after the macaca incident - if he ever used the word "nigger" and why he kept a Confederate Flag and noose in his office, the NBC camera guy caught the whole exchange. It, to this day, has never aired in its entirety. The only reason I know it exists is that the video (without the sound) was shown to provide context to the later incident in which Allen's goons threw me to the ground.])

Of course, I could have asked any number of other questions. I had thought of a few:

"Senator: there's been a lot of media chatter about Barack Obama having difficulty wooing women voters that formerly supported Hillary Clinton. The unspoken assumption is that they will cross over and vote for you. Do believe this assumption holds water considering the fact that you left your first wife - a former swimsuit model - after she was disfigured in a car accident and put on a few pounds?"

"Senator: You've pushed back against the assertion that you want to stay in Iraq for the next hundred years. You've said that as long as we aren't taking casualties, a presence like that in Korea or Germany is fine with you. You've said the surge is working, that casualties are down, that we are winning the war in Iraq...

In the end, it sounds to me like you are saying that if we win the war in Iraq, if we aren't taking casualties... we stay... (after all, according to you, bringing the troops home isn't important...)

But...

If we get our asses handed to us in Iraq - if we suffer a lot of casualties - we must win the war, so... we stay...

You haven't shared with the American people what conditions must prevail for American troops to come home. Can you set forth the conditions you would require to pull all combat and combat support troops out of Iraq?"

I chose to forgo these questions in favor of the one I asked because once I decided to attend the event, I reached out to contacts in Washington for advice. After several conversations, a pattern emerged.

Not long ago, the New York Times reported the story of McCain's relationship with the sultry lobbyist, Vicki Iseman. McCain surrogates furiously denounced the story, but oddly, John McCain never brought it up.

As I made the rounds in Washington, several people mentioned the story. A theme developed. None would go on the record, but more than one suggested that fidelity in the McCain marriage was not a priority for either partner. I was told that reporters know a lot more than they let on, but they are reticent about bringing it up.

After chewing on the situation for a while, I decided to ask McCain a question about fidelity for two reasons.

The first has to do with raw politics. I don't believe for a second that John McCain will beat Barack Obama in November. Obama draws tens of thousands to his rallies; McCain is lucky if a thousand people show up for his. Barack has a cash machine that shames anything that came before it. McCain's campaign can barely afford the gas for his Straight Talk Express. Barack is inspiring, McCain is tiring...

But...

Down-ticket races need to be considered as well. Again, almost nobody doubts that Democrats will pick up a substantial number of seats in both houses of Congress. The pressing question is how many seats will flip. Will Democrats get to 60 seats in the Senate?

Every election has its close races. In Virginia, Webb beat Allen by fewer than 10,000 votes. Many, many House seats were determined by fewer than 5,000 votes. Every single vote counts.

I've seen analysis that the evangelical Christian community constitutes 30% of the Republican base. These fundamentalist voters drove the impeachment of Bill Clinton. Republicans are more than capable of reading polls; they knew that the majority of Americans just wanted to MoveOn... Republicans found themselves between a rock and a hard place. The impeachment route made them look partisan and petty to the majority of Americans, but their base wanted it more than anything else...

They decided to dance with who brung 'em. Evangelicals elected them so evangelicals would get their scalp. And Clinton was impeached. (McCain voted in favor of impeachment).

McCain is already on thin-ice with evangelicals. James Dobson won't take his calls. John Hagee's followers still smart over McCain's condemnations. He famously disparaged Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell in the 2000 campaign and he renounced mega-church Pastor Rob Parsely this cycle. McCain's support of embryonic stem-cell research, limited environmental protections and campaign finance reform have each generated withering criticism from the religious right.

The last thing the Republican paryy needs is a John McCain adultery problem.

Check that.

The second to last thing Republican party needs is a John McCain adultery problem. The last thing they need is a John McCain cuckold problem.

And the buzz in Washington is that he's got one.

The second reason I decided to ask McCain about adultery has to do with the way the press has treated the issue. That's the topic of another post, coming soon.

Comments

[PioneerKing]

MIKE:

You are just learning about one of the McCain's dirty little secrets "...fidelity in the McCain marriage was not a priority for either partner. I was told that reporters know a lot more than they let on, but they are reticent about bringing it up."
Too bad McCain's friends in the main stream media cover for him. If they didn't shill for McCain they would have to explain to the American people why they have been lying about McCain and his purported strengths such as "being a maverick, strong on national defense and foreign policy."
Mike, please get back to us once you have asked your colleagues "are you all bigots because you have not given Sen. Obama the leeway that you have given McCain," and ask your colleagues "after the lies that you sold the world to draw America and other nations into a war - don't you feel that you have a duty to be honest and unbiased in your coverage of the presidential nominees?" After all the person that the MSM has built up as the great white political hope for the republican party's presidential nominee could very well end up getting America into some scat worse than the mess that Bush/Cheney have created.

[UrsaMajority]

We all know about McCain's womanizing, but this is the first I'd heard about his potential for having a "cuckold" problem. It would certainly say allow about America if they viewed such an issue as going beyond the fact that "the guy is such a putz that his own wife steps out on him" and looked at it the likely cause of her actions, and concluded "he's so old and infirm that he's got a problem that even Bob Dole could beat". In other words, would red state dudes just hard it find to ascribe the necessary masculinity to take on terrorists and warlord to a candidate who's impotent in another area? . . . Just thinking out loud here.

[mom2sons]

It's gonna come out. You can tell they don't even love each other! They stay together for political reasons and the kids. Read the body language. If I was Cindy, I'd want a pool boy, massage therapist, and gardner too, say about 25 or 30 y.o. ROTFLMAO She can afford it.

[spiderbucket]

Let's take the high road, folks. We can win without being assholes like Limbaugh and his kind.

[JJaye]

Screw the high road. That's why the Republicans kicked the Dems ass in the the last 2 Presidential elections. Believe me, the Repubs don't even know how to get to the high road. There should be more focus on the Obama's relationship. I, for one find it refreshing that they are raising they young daughters with no other previous divorces or infidelities. John McCain allegedly calls his wife a C@#t and it is not pursued. Imagine Obama did that. I could see the headlines now.

[larose501]

Ditto JJaye!

[gage]

"Not long ago, the New York Times reported the story of McCain's relationship with the sultry lobbyist, Vicki Iseman. McCain surrogates furiously denounced the story, but oddly, John McCain never brought it up."

Excuse me, but were you in a coma that week? He and Mrs McCain held a nationally televised press conference, in which he denied an affair, and didn't leave until the press ran out of questions to ask him.

http://www.usnews.com/articles/news/campaign-2008/2008/02/21/mccain-denies-allegations-of-a-relationship-with-iseman.html

[Dannydel]

Excuse me, but you actually believed him?

[roald]

The NYT missed the point. Unlike the common Republican viewpoint, it is not any of my business whether he had an affair. I am concerned that lobbyists have undue influence.

[RadCenter]

Obama can and will win without dredging up this kind of muck.

Let's take a lesson from him and stay on the high road.

[yeswecancan]

Ok -- there's a difference between a "smear" and bringing up tough facts. Fact: John McCain left his first, former model wife after she became horribly disfigured in a car accident. Married 42 year old John met 25 year old Cindy in a bar in Hawaii and "fell in love" that night. There's not a thing wrong with bringing up McCain's serial infidelities in his first marriage, well-documented; his use of his position as Naval aide to the Senate to smuggle alcohol into observent nations for alcoholics like the late Sen. John Tower or his insubordination and disobedience in passing sensitive Navy documents to his pals in the Senate against his superior's orders. Sen. McCain points to all of these things as enhancing his "maverick" credentials but we've had 8 years of a President who disdains the rules when they apply to him, disdains the Congress, the Courts and the Constitution (anything trying to tell him what to do -- Valerie Plame, anyone?).
But having said that -- a smear is a rumor, not fact. While McCain's earlier infidelity is well-documented, I don't see anything in this post about current affairs by either McCain to justify this snarky post. Cindy has plenty of problems (her embezzling drugs from her charity, her drug rehab, her acting as bookkeeper for the Keating 5 involved company etc. etc.). But these have bases in fact -- let's keep it that way.

[roald]

Long list there and you are sounding like a Republican. Best to stick to the facts that reflect fitness for the job and skip the ones that are moral judgments or are not facts.

For example, fact, McCain left his first wife. Fact, she was a model. Fact, she was disfigured in an auto accident. Speculation, he married her only for looks. Speculation, the only reason he left her was because she was disfigured. Bringing up the age difference is a moral judgment and does not affect his ability to be President.

McCain has enough real problems on which to focus.

[waltontynerross]

Holy Hardball Batman!

[BassMent]

A lot of people in this comment thread have wondered, if McCain has so much dirt on him, from flip-flopping on the issues to cozying up with lobbyists to cheating on a wife who cheats on him, how come the MSM isn't hanging him out to dry?

Simple. The media love a horse race.

They'll report the outlying polls that show a close contest. They will parrot the "maverick" nonsense even though McCain voted with the core GOP Bushistas 95% of the time in 2007 and 100% of the time in 2006. They will sweep McCain scandals under the rug, and they'll spin a gorgeous speech like Obama delivered on Father's Day into some sort of nationwide racial identity crisis that's alienating white women everywhere. They'll talk about McCain's appeal to Reagan Democrats and independents and blue collar Appelachian-region dwellers. And they'll talk about how McCain can win the electoral college until we're all ready to vomit.

But the truth is, Obama leads in every poll with every demographic right now. I swear, if that nimnul Dick Gregory says that "Obama has a challenge with Hispanics" one more time, I'm going to print out the poll that shows Obama with 68% of the Latino vote, drive to MSNBC studios a personally stick it up his nose.

McCain. Can. Not. Win.

But that's "reality-based," and it's not going to sell advertising minutes through November. Gotta make it look like he has a chance....

[Ramirez]

Good post. At this point in the game the media will sit on whatever they have on McCain in order to drive the race. And then they will lower the boom in late October.

[editorjuno]

...I think you meant *David* Gregory....

[Kashapa]

Absolutely correct! hear! hear!

[ebanks84]

And the media loves to LIE!

[Dannydel]

Excellent post.... (FYI-Dick Gregory is the comedian and David Gregory is the MSNBC commentator who THINKS he is a comedian.

[TXfemmom]

It really made me angry when the libbyist thing was outed and the media just dropped it. Since the Republicans hounded Clinton, I think that they should have hit this story and stayed on it until they knew the truth.

[magen]

John McCain=Bob Dole 2.0

[AshevilleVoice]

I would like to see this story brought out just to see if the conservatives who had a field day with Clinton and Lewinsky have the same outrage over the indiscretions of their man, McCain.

[jesselee26]

i agree that obama does well to take the higher road.

but as as long as citizens take these matters into their own hands, its perfectly appropriate. the republicans are the ones who want to control peoples' sexual and marital behavior, let's point out their hypocrisies. prospective voters should be allowed to call mccain out for cheating on the botox queen. afterall, the msm is too hopped up on his barbeque to even call bull on his tax policies.

[gage]

Do you have any evidence that he was cheating on "the botox queen"? If so, let's see it.

I'm waiting.

[jesselee26]

just going off the premise of the post. but its okay, i understand you just couldn't fight the urge to type botox queen in quotes. don't worry, its not copyrighted, you can totally use it anytime you want.

[jimsey]

AND why does it matter?

[gbht12]

I wonder if you will feel the same way the repub's start trashing Michelle Obama.

This is revelent and it should be brought into the light. He puts himself on this high pedestal. John McCain is not a great man , period. Just because you served in the military does not make you qualified to serve as the "foreign affairs president"
. He dosen't know sh*t about the economy, he flips all over the place and for christ sakes he can't use a frea*king computer!

He is a cheating husband to top that off, your wife waits for you to come home from Vietnam and you divorce her and pick a trophy barbie doll wife.

Cindy McCain needs to be fair game also, the Pub's are attacking Michelle Obama already. Time to fight, not cowl

[Micaanab]

I've read these comments and a good majority of them seem to feel hitting on McCain's fidelity problems is wrong.

Well this is the way I feel, if you make a promise to someone you love and break it, how can you be expected to keep promises to people you don't even know.

It's a question of character and morals. If your OK with a president that can't keep his promises to the one person he's sworn to God to stay loyal, then that's your business. But for some of us that hold marriage sacred, he is wrong. And for him to not only do this with his first wife but also his second, is setting up some sort of pattern. I say let the people know. If the majority of people are OK with it then he may become our president. But either way we have the right to know. After all, he will be making promises not only to us but also for us.

[JimR]

No. Even politicians are entitled to a personal life.

Also, do you have any proof whatsoever of infidelity in his marriage? If not, you are just spreading lies and gossip. Wonder what God would think of that.

[ynp7]

I wonder what the Care Bears or Rainbow Brite would think about it.

[gage]

But you voted for Bill Clinton anyway, right?

[queotic]

There are so many issues with McCain that this type of dirty politicking is not needed.

[profounddogs]

So McCain's voting to impeach Clinton because Clinton lied about his infidelity sex is okay, but calling on McCain to the standards is not???

That's what I call hypocrisy.

[JimR]

Did McCain lie to a grand jury about cheating on his wife? If so, then you have a case. If not, you're just rolling around in sleaze.

[gemstone1000]

You've got to be kidding. The repugs will be digging for any dirt they can find on Obama and the emails are already flying that accuse Obama of things that simply aren't true. If McCain has cheated on his current wife and vice versa, then the whole world needs to know.

[Micaanab]

Clinton used the kitchen sink and it was extremely close. And that was the primaries. The general election is a one time deal. All or nothing. Obama needs all the help he can get.

He doesn't have to take the dirt throwing position. But the press needs to report on everything. And this is an issue that should be addressed. McCain should answer the question. If it's not true put it to rest. If it is true admit to it and face the public.

Side stepping the issue and the press not reporting on it is wrong. Especially if we really need to hear about flag pins, being proud of our country, and saying the oath of office on the Koran.

[JimR]

Clinton used the kitchen sink because her campaign was desperate. And the kitchen sink helped sink her campaign. It turned off a LOT of people.