McCain Manager Plays Grimy And Tired P.O.W. Card To Excuse The Racial Hate Of His Supporters

As John McCain continues to struggle on the campaign trail with a pathetic "comeback" speech today, his campaign manager is using the same P.O.W.erless tricks that have contributed to the candidate's demise. Over the last week, McPalin and Co. have gone more overtly with the most despicable campaign tactics out there. Especially with Sarah Palin, key words are used that incite racial hatred and bigotry towards Barack Obama. They clearly cannot compete when it comes to important issus and solutions, so this is the level that they revert and regress to. When the campaing is asked to defend the hate speech of what is left in McCain's corner, Rick Davis goes for the P.O.W. card yet again. Not only that, but he adds an extra heap of hilarity on top.

From RawStory:

After inflammatory speech at events for Republican presidential candidate John McCain made headlines this weekend, Democratic lawmaker John Lewis compared McCain to 1960s segregationist George Wallace.

Chris Wallace of Fox News Sunday asked Davis if McCain and Palin bear any responsibility for their supporters calls of violence when attack ads and stump speeches call Obama a "liar" and a "terrorist."

This is how Davis responded: "Barack Obama should apologize to John McCain directly for the kinds of comments made by Joe Lewis yesterday and that should be the end of this sordid affair."[...]

Davis called Lewis' comparison "outrageous" because McCain was undergoing oppression in a prison camp at the time of Wallace's hateful speeches.

"Where was John McCain when George Wallace was spreading his hate and segregationist policies at that time?" Davis said. "He was in a Vietnam prison camp serving his country with his civil rights also denied. Nobody knows sacrifice like John McCain does."

Well Rick, I'll tell you where John McCain is right now with the hate he is helping to foment, right smack in the middle of it all. At this point, I don't care where John McCain was when Wallace was in power (though by the way his famous segregationist speech was in 1963, before McCain crashed his plane and was taken prisoner by the North Vietnamese). Davis doesn't know his history and is obviously clueless that the talking points that were devised of in the summer are not working with an electorate that is paying attention here in the fall.

McCain's Campaign Manager Rick Davis Is Still A Lobbyist

Despite John McCain's pathetic attempt to lie about Rick Davis' lobbyist status, it wasn't too hard to pull the facts from the shallow ground that the GOP dug for them. At this point McCain and his cronies simply do not care about earning the public's trust. Instead they are on a direct strategy to lie and manipulate the public with ridiculous gimmicks that a blind man could see through. Since McCain challenged anyone on Rick Davis' status, the media did exactly that and guess what they found?

From Newsweek:

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Rick Davis, John McCain's campaign manager, has remained the treasurer and a corporate director of his lobbying firm this year, despite repeated statements by campaign officials that he had ended his relationship with the firm in 2006, according to corporate records.

The McCain campaign this week criticized news stories disclosing that, since 2006, Davis's firm has been paid a $15,000-a-month consulting fee from Freddie Mac, the troubled mortgage giant recently put under federal conservatorship. The stories, published Tuesday by NEWSWEEK, The New York Times and Roll Call, reported that the consulting fees continued until last month even though, according to two sources familiar with the arrangement, neither Davis nor anybody else at his firm did any substantial work for the payments.

Stefanie Mullin, a spokesperson for the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which has taken over Freddie Mac and its sister entity Fannie Mae, confirmed Wednesday that the Davis Manafort contract is being terminated. "All lobbying activity has stopped and political consulting contracts at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are in the process of being terminated," said Mullin. (Democratic strategist Paul Begala also was on the Freddie Mac payroll, according to sources familiar with the arrangement.)

The McCain campaign can skirt around the issue all the want, but the truth of the matter is that Davis still benefits from the arrangement. The facts of the case make this extremely relevant and especially revealing about the character of the people McCain employs and by that standard, the character of the candidate as well.

A Nation Of Whiners Within The McCain Campaign

"Whining" has been an interesting word in this campaign season, especially when Phil Gramm said that we are a "Nation of whiners" and that times aren't as tough as they feel (probably because he's super-wealthy from working at UBS). He tried to tell people to suck it up, but that is exactly the message that the McCain campaign and specifically Steve Schmidt needs to hear. He whined that the NY Times was going after them and no one else, citing stories about Obama during a conference call that had no basis in fact.

Well the Times took on Gramm's role and told him to grow up:

Bill Keller, executive editor of The Times, responded in a statement: “The New York Times is committed to covering the candidates fully, fairly and aggressively. It’s our job to ask hard questions, fact-check their statements and their advertising, examine their programs, positions, biographies and advisers. Candidates and their campaign operatives are not always comfortable with that level of scrutiny, but it’s what our readers expect and deserve.”

I wish that Keller and the rest of the NY Times did more of this journalism thing. It would be amazing if they really covered what was going on in New York, the nation and the world if they and the rest of the traditional media would stop trying to give "balance" to politicos that have no qualm about lying to our faces.

Chris Wallace Makes A Fool Out Of Rick Davis

Every once in a while, Chris Wallace forgets he works at Fox News and acts like a journalist. Yesterday was one of those days, when Rick Davis came on to the show and Wallace smacked him upside the head with a few nuggets of truth and then catching him trying to spin his way out of an unescapable trap.

McCain Can Kiss Ohio Goodbye For This

One of the first states that are mentioned in terms of winning or losing this Presidential election is Ohio. It (disputably) gave Bush the cushion he needed to stay another four years in the White House. Ohio is a working-class state with many jobs that are being shipped out in order to pad profits of large corporations, corporations like DHL. Ohioans are concerned about their merger with Airborne-Express and the massive job loss that will ensue. McCain told a teary-eyed voter that he didn't know if he could stop the merger, but his campaign manager knows that he'll do everything in his power to make sure it goes through.

From The Washington Post:

In 2003, for instance, DHL Holdings (USA) and Airborne hired Davis to lobby the Senate to facilitate a merger. Hotly opposed by shipping giants FedEx and United Parcel Service, the merger encountered opposition from Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) on the commerce committee. McCain took steps that helped Davis's clients. He thwarted Stevens's effort to insert language into legislation that would prohibit foreign-controlled companies such as DHL from holding certain military contracts.

Davis's firm earned $125,000 from Airborne in 2003 and $465,000 from DHL parent company Deutsche Post World Net (USA) from 2003 to 2005, records show.

A group called Preserve Luke Air Force Base hired Davis in 2004 and 2005 to help win approval of an Arizona land swap. Guy Inzalaco, who was part of a development group, formed Preserve Luke AFB to push for the exchange. He knew McCain's help would be critical.

"We were like, 'Okay, who's close to Senator McCain?' " Inzalaco recalled. "There were a number of people. We talked to them all. Rick [Davis] was one of them. We knew he was tight with the senator."

That is why Davis works "for free" as McCain's campaign manager. It may be free in terms of a check from the McCain campaign, but indirectly, Davis has made millions as a result of Senator McCain's influence. Now McCain's camp can claim that Davis isn't lobbying now and that this has nothing to do with what is going on now, but the American people aren't stupid and that goes double for Ohioans on this matter. When they go into the ballot booth and see McCain and Obama, they'll know Obama wants change and McCain....well, they see who he works with and the damage they do to the local economy.

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.

McCain Campaign Manager Aided Corrupt Pro-Russian Party In Ukraine

The anti-lobbyist candidate John McCain has yet another lobbyist problem ensnaring his campaign. McCain, along with democracy-loving Americans everywhere, cheered Viktor Yushchenko as he and thousands of Ukrainians threw off the yoke of the corrupt Russian elements left in the country less than four years ago. Head honcho lobbyist Rick Davis was found to have lent his services to the pro-Russian "Party of Regions" faction in the Ukraine. With Davis' help, the Party of Regions surged back only two years later. So how does John McCain explain this?

From The Huffington Post:

How much does John McCain know about his campaign manager's lobbying history and potential current business interests inside Ukraine -- and when did he know it?

The stakes of the answer to that question are increasing, due both to the continuing controversy over the role of lobbyists in McCain's second presidential run, as well as the press inquiry into the connections between McCain campaign manager Rick Davis and the global business and political interests in Ukraine, a country represented by the lobbying firm that bears his name -- Davis-Manafort.[...]

Former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Steven Pifer told The Huffington Post that, in between the Party of Regions' 2004 loss and its 2006 victory, there was "an influx of the Davis-Manafort team." Pifer was not on the ground in Ukraine for the 2006 polls, but he recounted that "there was more of an American air" to the Ukrainians working with Davis-Manafort, and that they presented a more refined, media-savvy image.

Pifer later witnessed a December 2006 talk given in Washington, D.C. by the new Ukranian prime minister, who brought Davis's lobbying partner Paul Manafort along in tow as part of his entourage. Speaking to the Huffington Post about that event, Pifer said he noticed with interest that the new prime minister's presentation was "polished and confident...and was tuned to have resonance with Americans."

The story of their resurgence reeks to high hell of sliminess and slick political bullshit. How McCain can avoid this tremendous amount of slime from smearing his campaign is unimaginable. McCain employs Davis exactly because he can make old, tired and corrupt politicians sound new and refined (except for when in front of a green screen). Davis has certainly had his work cut out for him with McCain, but now McCain needs to make him go away, unless he wants this story to stick to his own campaign.

How John McCain Thinks He Can Win In 2008

Lobbyist Campaign manager Rick Davis knows the political climate is bad for Republicans this year. However he thinks there is hope for his candidate Straight Talkin', Lobbyist-Fightin' John McCain. Davis cites numbers that show people view McCain more positively than Obama by 6%, wow omigosh! What Davis doesn't say is that as long Americans find out about the real McCain, he doesn't stand a chance.

McCain Making Money Off "The Bitch"

Just as McCain was about to come back from the dead, he seems to want to go straight back across the River Styx. Yesterday he made headlines when a supporter referred to Hillary as "the bitch." Activists can be heated at times, but candidates should dismiss that type of hateful nonsense. Instead, he blew it up and agreed with his elderly, yet riled supporter. Then his campaign took it to a whole other level.

From The Huffington Post:

....On Tuesday, CNN's Rick Sanchez raised the question of whether McCain should have admonished the woman, and McCain's campaign criticized that criticism on Wednesday.

"Most people who have seen it are looking at it as a real mistake on his part in terms of the way he handled it," Sanchez said on the cable network's "Out in the Open."

McCain's South Carolina campaign manager, Buzz Jacobs, said in a statement Wednesday: "It not only reflects poorly on him, but on CNN. If Mr. Sanchez had even the faintest perspective on the race for the White House, he would know that Senator McCain has expressed his utmost respect for Senator Clinton numerous times on the campaign trail, as he did at Monday's event in Hilton Head."

Hours later, the McCain campaign was using the controversy to raise money for his candidacy.

Campaign manager Rick Davis e-mailed supporters, saying, "We are asking you to help us fight Rick Sanchez and CNN and stand with John McCain. Please make your most generous contribution from $25 up to the maximum limit of $2,300 to the only candidate who can defeat Hillary Clinton."

Usually it is the campaign on the receiving end that raises money off of goofs like these, not by the offender. I guess McCain is doing anything out of the ordinary to at least keep his face in the spotlight. It is pretty sad that this is what he has to stoop to in order to get that accomplished.