McCain Admits His Commonality With George Bush

McCain had a clever moment in the last debate where he tried to distance himself from George Bush. However, yesterday on Meet the Pres Brokaw had gotten the GOP candidate to admit the obvious connection he generally avoids like the plague. And of course, Obama didn't waste a moment in hammering him for it.

Rep. Cantor Tries To Escape From Bush's Legacy

Chris Matthews, in one of his more indignant forms, goes after Congressman Cantor for trying to distance himself from Bush. With Fiorina's "disappearance," McCain needed new surrogate blood to help him run from Dubya but with the record as it is, it is a tough job even for the most ammoral Republican.

Barack Obama Responds To McCain's Fake Outrage

Not only does he hit McCain back, he stays positive and sticks to his message. McCain on the other hand, has no message and his only hope is throwing massive amounts of mud in Obama's direction.

Obama Hits John "Don't Know Much" McCain

This brand new ad from the Obama campaign is smart, funny and extremely on message. Exposing and repeatedly highlighting John McCain's non-existent ability to lead and his faithful allegiance to George Bush is exactly the type of ad we should be seeing from now until November.

McCain Wants To Keep Bush's Tax Cuts To The Rich Permanent

How much did you save on your taxes from Bush's tax cuts a few years back? Certainly not hundreds of thousands or millions in savings like those in the top percent, you know, Bush's base. Of course if you did get those savings, then McCain is your man:

John McCain's "Jobs First" Program Is The Same As Bush

John "McSame" McCain is at it again, trying to look like the current Republican in the White House. What he and his handlers still do not understand is that we are able to dig up what he says and compare it to what Bush says....and the American people will see a carbon copy of George W. Bush.

McCain Moves Bushie Into Top Campaign Post

John McCain, after a few pathetic attempts at trying to look like something other than George Bush has seemingly given up. Not only are his policies remarkably similar (favoring the rich over the poor, staying in Iraq, machismo over diplomacy, etc) but his campaign organization is looking a lot like that of George Bush. The question is, will this be as successful a move as it was for Georgie?

From Politico:

Steve Schmidt is taking over the day-to-day operation of John McCain’s campaign, according to multiple campaign sources.[...]

McCain sources say Schmidt, who ran Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's reelection campaign and was a top communications aide in Bush-Cheney '04, will coordinate the campaign's daily pro-McCain and anti-Obama message but also will have an increased role in shaping most every facet of the organization including scheduling, policy, coalitions and surrogates.

Davis will focus more on big-picture issues such as general strategy, helping to plan the convention, picking a vice president and tending to the needs of major donors. [...]

Now, accounts diverge on the exact nature of the new chain of command. One top McCain source said that Schmidt "assumed full operational control of the campaign today" and described Davis as "a general manager."

But Charlie Black, another top adviser, said Davis was still in charge.

"Steve is going to function under Rick as a [chief operating officer]," Black said. "Rick still has authority over all things. Steve works for Rick."

But Black made sure to not diminish Schmidt's elevated role in the campaign.

"He'll be the maestro who conducts the symphony," Black said of Schmidt's position in driving McCain's message.

Wow, the chain of command sounds almost as confusing as the candidate's message. With all of these egos thinking they are in charge, the chaos that will blossom from it will truly be a spectacle to behold. Putting lobbyists and ex-Bushies together in a war room may have been good for corporate profits, but when the goal is to make a winning campaign out of losing material the outcome may not be what the players have been accustomed to in 2000 and 2004.

How McCain Really Feels About Bush

You can even hear the passion in his voice as he says those awful, awful words:

Pop-Up Video: Now For John McCain

No, this isn't John McCain's music video. I wouldn't want to give anyone any nightmares (unless you click on the link above). This is much better, and it is already the third episode of taking John McCain's words and putting little bits of truth in a "pop-up."

McCain Uses And Abuses Katrina Victims

John McCain tried to use "change" in his speech Tuesday by saying that he'd bring the "right" change for America. Foolishly he forgets that while he can say one thing, then another and back to the original in a week or less, his record is set in stone. He chose New Orleans as the place to contrast himself to Barack Obama and he failed miserably. Not only was the presentation of his speech terrible, any promise of change was hollow. Anyone that sees a candidate going down to the Gulf Coast understands the significance of that place and what a tremendous disgrace our government was when tepidly responding to one of our worst natural disasters in the history of the country (though the levees failing wasn't quite all Mother Nature's fault). And as John McCain was a part of that government, how did he act in the following days, weeks and months?

From DailyKos:

Who can forget McCain's indifference to the disaster as it unfolded? Appearing on Face the Nation the day before Katrina struck, he said nothing about the looming emergency. Then McCain yucked it up with Bush in Arizona even while the Gulf Coast was getting lashed. When he did get around to commenting, three days later, his office issued a tepid press release.

For the next half year, as Jonathan Stein documented, McCain was either absent from or in active opposition to substantive efforts to aid Katrina victims.

Though McCain issued a statement the next week calling on Congress to make sacrifices in order to fund recovery efforts, he was quoted in The New Leader on September 1 cautioning against over-spending in support of Katrina's victims. "We also have to be concerned about future generations of Americans," he said. "We're going to end up with the highest deficit, probably, in the history of this country."

That attitude was borne out in McCain's actions and votes. Forty Senators and 100 members of Congress visited New Orleans before he did; he finally got there in March 2006.

During that period McCain wasn't just failing to show leadership on the issue. Along with most other Republicans, he dug his heels in against spending serious money to help Americans in desperate need (contrast that with his free-spending ways on Iraq). McCain voted against extending unemployment benefits to Katrina victims up to 52 weeks, and against extending Medicaid benefits up to five months. He even voted twice against establishing an independent commission to examine the governmental response to Katrina. In May of 2006, little over a month after visiting NOLA for the first time, McCain also voted against the Emergency Supplemental Appropriations bill that had $28 billion for hurricane relief.

From that point on McCain's record gets even shabbier, if that's possible.

Yep, it has gotten much worse, just as George Bush ignored it again after he ignored it when the tragedy unfolded. There is no change here, it is just more of the same in brand new gift-wrapping. Even if he had the ability to speak eloquently in Louisiana two nights ago, America would still hear the ticking time bomb inside the box John McCain was carrying. He can call it anything he wants, change, experience, leadership, a military record, whatever. What he'll do for the country is just a continuation of the last eight years.

McCain Really, Really, Truly Hearts George Bush

He can't say it enough and that is alright by me, just keep repeating it Johnny:

John "McSame" McCain Declares War On Evil

What is a good Republican candidate without a lust for a war of some sort? With Bush departing soon there has to be a new set of fears for the American people to be cowed into voting for a Republican to save them. McCain does not want to look wimpy for his base or be some sort of moderate (gasp!) so he is doing he does best, running for George Bush's third term. In addition to starving our own country of domestic spending that is desperately needed (for falling highways, health care, jobs, etc etc) another war is McCain's way of continuing the legacy of George W. Bush.

From RawStory:

On Wednesday, he vowed to take the fight to religious persecution, human trafficking, child pornography and other "evil" if elected. Speaking at Oakland University in Rochester, Minnesota, CNN said the event was part of the Arizona' senators efforts to reach out to conservative voters.

A war for values? McCain rebuked "a tendency in our age to accede to the spurious excuse of moral relativism and turn away from the harshest examples of man's inhumanity to man, to ignore the darker side of human nature that encroaches upon our decency by subtle degree."

Adding to President George W. Bush's list of rogue nations -- or his infamous axis of evil (Iran, North Korea and Iraq) -- the presumptive Republican nominee "singled out" China, Iran, Myanmar, Sudan, North Korea and Saudi Arabia for restricting religious freedom -- "a subject of great importance."

Most of that is typical conservative platitudes thrown out to the Republican base as a way to "clean up the dirt" in our society. He never really says how he will root out all that evil, except of course to "bomb, bomb, bomb" it. The other comments about singling out nations such as China, Iran and Saudi Arabia is just ridiculous considering the fact that all three are serious world powers that do not take kindly to the juvenile blustering of an old man that wants access to the largest arsenal of nuclear weapons on the planet. So if you are considering a vote for McCain, you might just write in another four years for Mr. 28% George Bush.

McCain's Flip-Flops Can Only Lead To More Flip-Flops

John McCain came out with avengance against the DNC's ad showing McCain claim we could be in Iraq for a hundred years. The problem with him attacking the ad is that the DNC used his own words, so it is kinda hard to refute something that you actually said on camera. McCain knows that it looks bad to a nation sick and tired of war that he wants more war. The big problem for McCain is that the truth of what he wants to do is unexplainable to someone with common sense, so he tries to manipulate what he means. That translates into more lies, and more of a demand to clarify everything that comes out of his mouth.

From MSNBC:

First, if McCain doesn't envision a 100-year American front-line combat presence in Iraq, how long is he willing to keep U.S. forces in that role? So far, all he has said is that the United States should withdraw only if it concludes that the Iraq mission is unachievable or when it has achieved success, which he defines as the establishment of "a peaceful, stable, prosperous, democratic state."

McCain hasn't said how long he would keep fighting to reach that demanding goal. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., one of McCain's closest Senate allies, recently said he thinks that McCain would maintain current U.S. troop levels in Iraq through his entire four-year presidential term if military commanders recommended that course to maintain stability there.

McCain has not said when, but he has pledged that Iraqi units will eventually assume the major combat responsibility. That prompts the next question McCain should address: What would then become the mission for the U.S. forces he wants to maintain in Iraq? McCain hasn't specified. But he has suggested that their job would be to deter external aggression, much as in South Korea where our troops "served as a buffer against invasion from North Korea."

Of course South Korea is nothing like Iraq. That would be like comparing grapes to watermelons. McCain's assertions are based on false premises, so every explanation he gives is shaky from the start. The "maverick" is trying to hold together arguments from the Bush Administration that have no credibility in real world. What Bush has going for him is that he is not running for re-election, what McCain has going against him is that he is trying to run as Bush to be elected. In 2008, that is not going to work for the great majority of Americans that feel George Bush was the worst President ever.

McCain: For "Mission Accomplished" Before He Was Against It

As we mourn this fifth anniversary of George Bush's "Mission Accomplished" photo-op disaster, the nation must remember that just because George Bush won't be here for the sixth anniversary, that doesn't mean someone like John McCain will ensure that there will be many more reasons to remember we went to Iraq.

As we look again at the symbolic Pyrrhic victory banner that George Bush had hoisted above him five years ago, it is always good to see what the candidates have to say about it. Both Senators Obama and Clinton repudiate that moment and highlight the callousness of our President for his outrageous show of hubris that day. John McCain however, is a bit more of a waffler.

From The Huffington Post:

....McCain himself defended the banner in June 2003 on Fox News:

NEIL CAVUTO (host): Senator -- after a conflict means after the conflict, and many argue the conflict isn't over.

McCAIN: Well, then why was there a banner that said mission accomplished on the aircraft carrier? Look, the -- I have said a long time that reconstruction of Iraq would be a long, long, difficult process, but the conflict -- the major conflict is over, the regime change has been accomplished, and it's very appropriate.

And on May 22, 2003 -- just three weeks after Bush spoke on the aircraft carrier -- McCain offered a mission accomplished speech of his own. On the Senate floor, McCain proclaimed "massive victory" in Iraq and credited combat-readiness for "our victory" in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Now of course he says that the banner was a mistake but still won't blame George Bush for the blunder. He is just saying whatever it takes to appease whomever is left in Bush's camp while trying (poorly) not to be an exact copy of the President. The problem is, Xerox couldn't do a better job of McCain's posturing these days. He is still a proponent of a war that is failing everyone involved (thats usually how wars work).

McCain + Bush = McSame

And it isn't just their words, the actions speak loudly as well.

Embracing George Bush.....Or Not

Two nights ago there were quite a few headlines, dealing with Texas, Ohio and clinching the Republican nomination. Yet what seemed to be even bigger was McCain being endorsed by current President George Bush. Now it doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that Republican strategists might connect the dots and see that a Bush endorsement could be a bad thing, you know, with him being the worst President ever and all. Froomkin points this out quite well in today's Post.

From The Washington Post:

You'll never guess who was the most excited about yesterday's endorsement.

As of this writing, there's no mention of it on the home page of McCain's Web site. There's no mention of it all on the Republican National Committee's home page. In fact, I can't find any mention whatsoever of the event on either Web site at all. (It's like: Bush Who?)

But on the Democratic National Committee Web site, the lead headline blares: "Bush Endorses John McCain as His Successor."

"Since the event was held in the middle of the afternoon we fear that some Americans may miss George Bush's assurances that John McCain would continue the Bush Administrations failed economic and foreign policies," the DNC explains. "As a public service we've posted a video of the press conference for voters to see."

The event was pretty ugly from all angles, unless of course, you are rooting against McCain like I am. Not only I, but the majority of this country that does not want to see another four, or god forbid eight years of a Bush Presidency. The last eight have caused enough nightmares to last a lifetime.