Political Ruminations

Morning Quote: John McCain Gives Obama Advice

John McCain thinks that President Obama should give the boot to Joe Biden and replace him with Hillary Clinton. Apparently he feels qualified to make such a call because, you know, he’s such a great picker of veeps:

“I think it might be wise to do that. But it's not going to happen...if I were Hillary Clinton, I'm not sure I'd want to be on that team.”

I’m almost speechless. First his daughter calls Vice President Biden names, and now John McCain, whose own veep candidate could barely get a sentence out without spewing gibberish, and is utterly without credibility in this.

Morning Quote: John McCain

On ‘Meet the Press’ yesterday, John McCain on how Citizens United, the worst SCOTUS ruling of the century, has affected our political system:

“The whole system is broken and it's a wash.”

 

The understatement of the year.

Morning Quote: Sen. John McCain

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), predicts “huge” campaign finance scandals due to the brazenly bad Citizen’s United ruling by the Supreme Court in 2010:

“I promise you, there will be huge scandals, because there's too much money washing around, too much of it we don't know who's behind it and too much corruption associated with that kind of money. There will be major scandals.”

McCain also said that it’s unlikely that the 112th Congress will pass a law to “rewind” the Supreme Court's ruling:

“A majority of Republicans would vote against it because Republicans are profiting by it" in the battle for the party's presidential nomination,and a lot of Democrats don't want to take it up.

But we will go out there again and we'll fight again and we'll continue to fight because this system is not fair to the American people.”

Quote of the Day

“For me and the experience I had on this campaign is that there are worse things than losing. When a result happens that puts someone who’s not prepared to be president on the ticket, that’s a bad result. I think the notion of Sarah Palin being president of the United States is something that frightens me, frankly. And I played a part in that. And I played a part in that because we were fueled by ambition to win.”

- Steve Schmidt, chief strategist for McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign, re McCain's running mate, Sarah Palin (Morning Joe).

McCain Says GOP Primary is Like a Greek Tragedy

John McCain yesterday, as quoted by The Boston Herald, concerned about the negative campaigning in the ongoing Republican primary battle:

“This is like watching a Greek tragedy. It's the negative campaigning and the increasingly personal attacks... it should have stopped long ago. Any utility from the debates has been exhausted, and now it's just exchanging cheap shots and personal shots followed by super PAC attacks.”

According to a poll published on Monday, Republicans have reason to be concerned :

McCain’s concerns come after a bipartisan POLITICO/George Washington University poll yesterday showed Obama’s job approval rising to 53 percent and all four of the Republican candidates behind by double figures in head-to-head matchups with the Democrat. Romney trailed Obama by 10 percentage points, while former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum was behind by 11, the poll showed.

Adding......McCain endorsed Romney in January (those rich guys gotta stick together, ya know).

Morning Quote: John McCain

“I predict to you that there will be huge scandals associated with this huge flood of money.”

- Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), commenting on the ruling by the Supreme Court in 2010(Citizens United) that allowed the introduction of Super PACs into our politics.

Morning Quote: John McCain

“It is harming the Republican party. It is harming the view, if it's possible anymore, of the American people about Congress.”

- Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz) (on CNN yesterday) on the fight in Congress over extending the payroll tax cut.

John McCain Blames Undocumented Immigrants for Wildfires

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) makes an unfounded accusation about the cause of an Arizona wildfire at a press conference in Arizona over the weekend:

“There is substantial evidence that some of these fires are caused by people who have crossed our border illegally.

They have set fires because they signal others, they have set fires to keep warm, and they have set fires in order to divert law enforcement agents and agencies from them. The answer to that part of the problem is to get a secure border.”

McCain certainly jumped the shark. According to U.S. Forest Service spokesman Tom Berglund on ABC News, there is no evidence for McCain’s accusation:

When asked if there is substantial evidence that some fires were caused by undocumented immigrants, as McCain said at a news conference Saturday, Berglund said: “Absolutely not, at this level.”

“There’s no evidence that I’m aware, no evidence that’s been public, indicating such a thing,” he said.

Bergland also said that the fire was caused by an “escaped campfire”.

Berglund did say, however, that the cause of the Wallow fire, now the largest wildfire in Arizona history, had been determined to be human -- specifically an “escaped campfire.” Two persons of interest were questioned, but no arrests were made.

»Image (of the Arizona Wallows wildfire 6 days ago) courtesy of Our Amazing Planet

Adding……the right wing doesn’t want a “secure border”. They want a moat with alligators to keep our brown neighbors out.

Morning Quote: John McCain Compares Sarah Palin to Reagan

Gag me. When asked by Cindy Crowley, host of CNN’s State of the Union, as to whether Palin is divisive, John McCain made a comparison of Sarah Palin to Ronald Reagan.

I think anybody that has the visibility that Sarah has is obviously going to have some divisiveness. I remember that a guy named Ronald Reagan used to be viewed by some as divisive.

 

Quote of the Day: John McCain Bashes Harry Reid for Living in a Fancy Apartment

Campaigning for Sharron Angle in Nevada on election day, John McCain bashed Harry Reid for living in a penthouse apartment. I know. Unbelieveable.

We are going to kick Harry Reid out of his penthouse at the Ritz-Carlton and send him back to [his hometown of] Searchlight!

Yet  another sign of the terrible incongruity inherent in this election season.

After all, this is the man who famously couldn’t remember how many houses he owns when he was asked during his 2008 campaign for the presidency.

Oh noes….Look, the Mother Country is laughing at us! And with good reason. The Guardian [emphasis mine]:

This has been, perhaps above all else, the election campaign in which hypocrisy became so audaciously unashamed that it seemed to lose all meaning as a concept. Is there still any point condemning a politician for not practicing what they preach when the anti-establishment movement galvanizing the American right is funded by unprecedented floods of establishment cash? So perhaps it's par for the course, as opposed to jaw-dislocatingly outrageous, to hear John McCain, campaigning in Nevada for the Tea Partier Sharron Angle, mock her opponent, Harry Reid, for – and please, make sure you're sitting down – residing in fancy apartments.

I can agree with that. The Right Wing’s hypocrisy has become “audaciously unashamed”.

Adding…. For the record, Sharron Angle has also been bashing Reid for his fancy apartment. If she wins, she had better live in a hovel in Virginia or Maryland.

HT Bob Cesca