Tag: John McCain

The boy just can’t seem to stop making an ass of himself, can he?  John McCain, who can’t even tell Iraqi resistance fighters from Iranians, can’t distinguish between al-Qaeda and Iran — because as far as he’s concerned, they’re all the same — is criticizing Barack Obama for perceived foreign policy inexperience because the senator supposedly representing Illinois doesn’t see Iran as a threat on the same level as the Soviet Union in its day.

CHICAGO – Republican John McCain accused Democrat Barack Obama of inexperience and reckless judgment for saying Iran does not pose the same serious threat to the United States as the Soviet Union did in its day.

McCain made the attack Monday in Chicago, Obama’s home turf.

“Such a statement betrays the depth of Senator Obama’s inexperience and reckless judgment. These are very serious deficiencies for an American president to possess,” McCain said in an appearance at the restaurant industry’s annual meeting.

He was referring to comments Obama made Sunday in Pendleton, Ore.: “Iran, Cuba, Venezuela – these countries are tiny compared to the Soviet Union. They don’t pose a serious threat to us the way the Soviet Union posed a threat to us. And yet we were willing to talk to the Soviet Union at the time when they were saying, `We’re going to wipe you off the planet.'”

Let’s get something straight here, boy: you can’t even tell one Arab group or nation apart from another.  Where the hell do you get off chastising Obama?  And what, may I ask, leads you to think Iran is as big a threat as the old Soviet Union was?  Come on, I know you’re a liar, but you’re not stupid.  You know as well as anyone else what the National Intelligence Estimate last year declared: that Iran is not developing nuclear weapons; that it abandoned any such attempts in 2003; and that its nuclear ambitions now seem to be geared more toward energy production than weapons.

An honest man might, in attacking his potential opponent over foreign policy naïvety, might have at least taken care to mention the NIE, why he disagreed with it — based on available evidence, and pointed out any rhetorical flubs that might indicate said potential opponent might engage in talks incompetently.  But John McCain is neither honest, or a man.  He is a liar, a subhuman beast trying to pander his way into the White House by terrorizing the American public.

McCain needs to admit he was lying, apologize for having done so, and drop out of the race for the presidency.  These are the only honorable things he can do.  Anything less is unacceptable.

Just moments ago, Obama fired back on Bush’s outrageous comparison to “Appeasement of Hitler” stating:

“I want to be perfectly clear with George Bush and John McCain, if George Bush and John MCain want to have a debate about protecting America, that is a debate I am willing to have anytime and any place, and that is a debate that I will win, because George Bush and John McCain have a lot to answer for.”

Obama Fires Back on Bush & McCain

Obama set the record straight, saying that he has never stated he will negotiate with terrorists and pointed out McCain’s hypocrisy on this issue which McCain readily denied today:

McCain camp denies he ‘flip-flopped’ on Hamas

The McCain campaign said Friday that his position had remained consistent: no dialogue with rogue or suspected terrorist nations or parties without pre-conditions.

“There should be no confusion, John McCain has always believed that serious engagement would require mandatory conditions and Hamas must change itself fundamentally — renounce violence, abandon its goal of eradicating Israel and accept a two-state solution,” McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds said.

The Arizona senator has criticized Barack Obama for his stated willingness to speak with hostile nations like Iran, and repeatedly raised what he has described as Hamas’ approval of Obama’s candidacy.

In perhaps the first major act of unity of the General Election, Democratic leaders are standing up to Bush’s despicable comparison to “appeasement of Hitler” remarks.

This morning, John Edwards appearing on the Today Show, defended Obama on Bush’s comparison of “apppeasement of Hitler” stating, “It is beneath the President of the United States to make these kind of clearly political accusations when he is addressing the people of Israel on the 60th anniversary of Israel. It shouldn’t have been done, particularly in combination with what has been an absolutely disasterous foreign policy.”

Edwards also said he’s not interested in taking the Vice President position but will work with Obama’s team during the campaign and his administration stating, “right now we’ve got to focus on getting Barack Obama elected as the President of the United States.”

As TomP reported in his diary on DailyKos, “Democrats Coming Together: Clinton and Rubin Defend Obama from Bush Charges” Senator Clinton and her foreign policy advisor, Rubin, also defended Obama:

Rubin stated, “The Obama campaign was right to criticize the president for his remarks and for engaging in partisan politics while overseas.”

Biden weighed in by calling it “bullsh*t:”

Joe Biden, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said that if the president disagrees so strongly with the idea of talking to Iran, then he needs to fire his secretaries of state and defense, both of whom Biden said have pushed to sit down with the Iranians.

“This is bulls**t. This is malarkey. This is outrageous. Outrageous for the president of the United States to go to a foreign country, sit in the Knesset … and make this kind of ridiculous statement,” he said.

“He’s the guy who’s weakened us. He’s the guy that’s increased the number of terrorists in the world. His policies have produced this vulnerability the United States has.”

Even Chris Matthews offered a reality check on Bush’s remarks pointing out that appeasement is not talking with leaders but giving up the farm.

As Obama stated today, Bush and McCain have a lot to answer for. The days of lies and fear mongering are quickly coming to an end.

It is sad that President Bush would use a speech to the Knesset on the 6Oth anniversary of Israel’s independence to launch a false political attack. It is time to turn the page on eight years of policies that have strengthened Iran and failed to secure America or our ally Israel. Instead of tough talk and no action, we need to do what Kennedy, Nixon and Reagan did and use all elements of American power — including tough, principled, and direct diplomacy – to pressure countries like Iran and Syria. George Bush knows that I have never supported engagement with terrorists, and the President’s extraordinary politicization of foreign policy and the politics of fear do nothing to secure the American people or our stalwart ally Israel.”

abc news

Not hardly.

But, in honor of Iraq Moratorium #9, being observed today, it seems worth asking the question. (And with the trifecta in the headline, I thought maybe someone over at the orange blog, where my cross-posts go to die, will click on it.)

McCain’s hallucination  vision of what would happen in his presidency:

“By January 2013, America has welcomed home most of the servicemen and women who have sacrificed terribly so that America might be secure in her freedom,” McCain said in a speech in Columbus, Ohio.

“The Iraq war has been won. Iraq is a functioning democracy, although still suffering from the lingering effects of decades of tyranny and centuries of sectarian tension. Violence still occurs, but it is spasmodic and much reduced,” McCain said.

Wouldn’t that be loverly?

Today’s New York Times features a column by David Brooks wherein Brooks claims that Obama’s statements about the current violence in Lebanon, “has the whiff of what President Bush described yesterday as appeasement.”  The statement which Brooks feels has that whiff is:

It’s time to engage in diplomatic efforts to help build a new Lebanese consensus that focuses on electoral reform, an end to the current corrupt patronage system, and the development of the economy that provides for a fair distribution of services, opportunities and employment.

Leaving aside the question as to whether or not that would actually appease Hezbollah in some way (I would contend that Hezbollah is plenty enthusiastic about corrupt patronage systems and unfair distribution of goods and services, merely wishing that they be in charge of the corruption and unfair distribution), let’s focus for a moment on what is actually happening in Lebanon, and what Obama is saying should be done about it by the United States.

A new contributing writer on THE ENVIRONMENTALIST, Cliff Schecter, the author of THE REAL McCAIN, has outlined, in his first post for us, the connections between three of McCain’s top staffers and their paid lobbying efforts for the Burmese Junta, Saudi Arabia, various African dictatorships; a veritable ‘Murderers Row’.

Here’s an excerpt:

A new website has been created by Campaign Money Watch to convince Senator McCain to fire three lobbyists working on his campaign that have ties to ruthless dictators. You may recall that over the past two days, two McCain aides have resigned because of their willingness to do public relations work for the Burmese Junta.

It turns out that they have friends in low places, however. I contacted David Donnelly, Director of Campaign Money Watch, for a comment, and what he had to say explains what his group is trying to accomplish:

“John McCain ought to immediately fire three lobbyists – Charlie Black, Tom Loeffler, and Peter Madaigan — whose lobbying for brutal dictators and foreign governments is every bit as bad as the two lobbyists who left his campaign over the weekend. Frankly, McCain’s campaign is turning out to be an effort of, by, and for these types of Washington influence peddlers. His credentials as a reformer are gone.”

Pretty strong words. Yet, if you read what these men have been up to, perhaps not strong enough…

Please visit THE ENVIRONMENTALIST for the details and pass this link on to everyone you know:  

http://www.the-environmentalis…

From our editor:  “The media is ignoring McCain’s campaign ties to these rogue regimes.  We’re not.”  

Greenwashing is the unjustified appropriation of environmental virtue by a company, an industry, a government, a politician or even a non-government organization to create a pro-environmental image, sell a product or a policy, or to try and rehabilitate their standing with the public and decision makers after being embroiled in controversy.

John McCain’s campaign is going GREEN … and even trying to raise some funds via this greening. As a reach out to Birkenstock wearing eco-terrorists, it seems, the McCain campaign website now had eco-friendly items” for sale.  You too can have your “Bamboo Pique” “Go Green McCain Embroidered Polo Shirt with New Recycle Logo” in stone color, for just $50.  A ladies bamboo T-Shirt will run your $25.  An “unstructured organic cotton canvas” “Go Green McCain Visor” will run you $15. Time to raid your piggy-banks, you eco-terrorists, to help fund the “eco-friendly” McCain campaign.

$15 too much?  Well, there is always the $8 note book with that new recycle logo. “The lined sheets and notebook covers are colored with organic based inks.”

There are some things that fall beyond satire.

Who do they think they’re kidding?  Rebranding McCain as Mr. Enviroment?  Rebranding the Republican Party as the Eco-Friendly choice?  The McCain campaign must have a real disdain for the intellect of the American voting public.