RKMBs Forums .::Important::. Politics and Current Events McCain in 08?

Actually some people make points in footnotes, don't they?

Though I'll agree that it isn't dying, I'll disagree that the leftist liberal end is winning through the media. Nothing about the media has changed since before Bush was reelected, and if the media didn't win anything then, it ain't winning it now.

points are ideas and therefore do not have feet.

i went to school with Doors Ajar he was a nice muslim kid....

It's nice that you're opinion of him didn't hinge on what his religion was. I'd have expected you to slam him for it. Maybe you're not as closed-minded as I once suspected.

6 minutes ago

PROVIDENCE, R.I. - Republican campaign dropout Mitt Romney agreed Thursday to endorse Sen. John McCain for the party's presidential nomination and ask his national convention delegates to swing behind the front-runner, according to officials familiar with the decision.
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Romney collected 280 delegates during his run through the early primaries and caucuses, enough to move McCain close to the total of 1,191 needed to clinch the nomination a full nine months before the November general election.

The officials who disclosed Romney's plans did so on condition of anonymity to avoid pre-empting a formal announcement later in the day. McCain was campaigning in Vermont and Rhode Island during the day, and added a flight to Boston to appear with Romney to accept the endorsement at his waterfront campaign headquarters.

McCain effectively sealed the nomination last week when Romney withdrew from the race; only former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and libertarian-leaning Texas Rep. Ron Paul remain but both lag McCain in delegates to the GOP's nominating convention this fall.

Romney's decision marked a harmonious end to an occasionally contentious struggle between the two men over the party's presidential nomination. They criticized one another in television ads in state after state, a clash that effectively ended on Feb. 5, when McCain won a string of big-state primaries from coast to coast.

Officials said the former Massachusetts governor made his decision to back McCain earlier in the day, citing a desire to help the Arizona senator wrap up the nomination before too much more time passed and while Democrats still did not have a nominee.

Original President Bush backing McCain - and swiping at conservatives who attack McCain.

McCain seems to be gathering quite a bushel of support.

You can always throw away your vote like you did last time.

I kind of have to agree with the sockfucker, at least to the extent that voting for third party candidates is, at best, a wasted vote.

I somehow doubt that, for example, there are a lot of Nader voters happy they helped elect Bush. But I could be wrong, maybe WB isn't the only one.

Actually, the "story" would appear to be as follows:

The allegations are eight years old and unproven.

The Times sat on the story for several months or years.

The New Republic (a liberal magazine) details that many editors at the Times were concerned that the story was not adequately documented to be published.

The Assocated Press reports that McCain's attorneys presented evidence to the Times to rebut the insinuations in the story but the Times chose not to include it in the article.

During the time period in which it sat on the story, the Times endorsed McCain for the GOP nomination, stating that "he has demonstrated that he has the character to stand on principle," among other things. That would further seem to demonstrate that the Times editorial board had little faith in this story.

Now, after McCain becomes the presumptive nominee, the Times sees fit to run a story that consists of nothing but denied allegations and the fact that some staffers had concerns about the relationship nearly a decade ago.

Eight year old unproven (if not disproven) allegations are news?

No wonder the story is less about the unproven suspicions and more about the timing and ethics of the New York Times.

Renzi is a close ally of McCain’s, of course– birds of a feather–

then we learned about his ethically dubious relationship with a young, attractive female lobbyist

then we learned that Muqtada al-Sadr essentially controls the fate of Iraq when he (thankfully) agreed to continue abiding by the cease-fire.

Should make for a fun eight months

Hold on, if that's your standard I think you had better talk to MEM about that guy that Obama has been hanging out with (Rezko or something).

What a damaging week for the McCain campaign, huh?

McCain Disputed On 1999 Meeting

Broadcaster Recalls Urging FCC Contact

By James V. Grimaldi and Jeffrey H. Birnbaum
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, February 23, 2008; Page A01

Broadcaster Lowell "Bud" Paxson yesterday contradicted statements from Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign that the senator did not meet with Paxson or his lobbyist before sending two controversial letters to the Federal Communications Commission on Paxson's behalf.


Paxson said he talked with McCain in his Washington office several weeks before the Arizona Republican wrote the letters in 1999 to the FCC urging a rapid decision on Paxson's quest to acquire a Pittsburgh television station.

Paxson also recalled that his lobbyist, Vicki Iseman, likely attended the meeting in McCain's office and that Iseman helped arrange the meeting. "Was Vicki there? Probably," Paxson said in an interview with The Washington Post yesterday. "The woman was a professional. She was good. She could get us meetings."

The recollection of the now-retired Paxson conflicted with the account provided by the McCain campaign about the two letters at the center of a controversy about the senator's ties to Iseman, a partner at the lobbying firm of Alcalde & Fay.

The McCain campaign said Thursday that the senator had not met with Paxson or Iseman on the matter. "No representative of Paxson or Alcalde and Fay personally asked Senator McCain to send a letter to the FCC regarding this proceeding," the campaign said in a statement.

But Paxson said yesterday, "I remember going there to meet with him." He recalled that he told McCain: "You're head of the Commerce Committee. The FCC is not doing its job. I would love for you to write a letter."

McCain attorney Robert S. Bennett played down the contradiction between the campaign's written answer and Paxson's recollection.

"We understood that he [McCain] did not speak directly with him [Paxson]. Now it appears he did speak to him. What is the difference?" Bennett said. "McCain has never denied that Paxson asked for assistance from his office. It doesn't seem relevant whether the request got to him through Paxson or the staff. His letters to the FCC concerning the matter urged the commission to make up its mind. He did not ask the FCC to approve or deny the application. It's not that big a deal."

The Paxson deal, coming as McCain made his first run for the presidency, has posed a persistent problem for the senator. The deal raised embarrassing questions about his dealings with lobbyists at a time when he had assumed the role of an ethics champion and opponent of the influence of lobbyists.

The two letters he wrote to the FCC in 1999 while he was chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee produced a rash of criticism and a written rebuke from the then-FCC chairman, who called McCain's intervention "highly unusual." McCain had repeatedly used Paxson's corporate jet for his campaign and accepted campaign contributions from the broadcaster and his law firm.

McCain himself in a deposition in 2002 acknowledged talking to Paxson about the Pittsburgh sale. Asked what Paxson said in the conversation, McCain said that Paxson "had applied to purchase this station and that he wanted to purchase it. And that there had been a numerous year delay with the FCC reaching a decision. And he wanted their approval very bad for purposes of his business."

The deposition was taken in litigation over the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law filed by Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). The contradiction in the deposition was first reported by Newsweek yesterday afternoon.

...McCain has never denied that Paxson asked for assistance from his office. It doesn't seem relevant whether the request got to him through Paxson or the staff. His letters to the FCC concerning the matter urged the commission to make up its mind. He did not ask the FCC to approve or deny the application....

I've mentioned my admiration and support of McCain several times in the past. And it really has little to do with his views or political positions (many of which I disagree with) but with his character.

With McCain, I sense a genuine integrity about the man. And his brand of Republicanism I see as political and not the quasi-religious fanaticism of the neocons who are positive they know everything there is to know about an issue and the only work is to try to force all data to support their conclusions.

I can see McCain working with the Democrats, i can see him working with our allies rather than belittling and bullying his way to his goals. And I can see him admiting errors, I can see him changing his opinions rather than trying to change the facts to suit him and I can see him give as well as take. In other words, i see a leader.

Now if you ran ...John McCain, i'd be running over to GOP campaign headquarters shouting HURRAH! an honest Republican ticket!!

South Carolina is known for its dirty politics and no one knows more about that than Senator John McCain. He suffered despicable personal attacks ...It's despicable that this sort of thing happens to anyone. Especially someone like John MCain who served honorably and suffered for his country. It's just endemic of this attitude that opponents must be destroyed at all costs.

McCain had an inappropriate relationship with a lobbyist that may have been adulterous AND may have influenced decisions on chairs that he led in the Senate...some right wingers are up in arms over it?

What a damaging week for the McCain campaign, huh? His three most “attractive” selling points — campaign finance reform, fierce anti-lobbyist stance, and support for the Glorious surge — are crumbling around him...Saint McCain’s not even the nominee yet and his three strongest legs have been taken out in a matter of 72 hours. Should make for a fun 8 months.

If the past 7 years taught us anything is that lies and malfeasance is something the conservative base has no problem with and even rewards.