Post-realism watch
I’ve said before that we live in an era where reality has very little sway in our political discourse. Here’s John McCain lying repeatedly about his decision to suspend his campaign during last year’s financial crisis.
McCain said Bush called him in off the campaign trail, saying a worldwide economic catastrophe was imminent and that he needed his help. “I don’t know of any American, when the president of the United States calls you and tells you something like that, who wouldn’t respond,” McCain said. “And I came back and tried to sit down and work with Republicans and say, ‘What can we do?’ “
“[Bush] didn’t ask me to suspend my campaign,” said McCain. “I suspended my campaign—as did Senator Obama—to come back to Washington because the President had told me that we were in a world financial collapse. That’s why I did what I did. I always said that consistently.”
John McCain is a cynical, senile old man. He may not remember what happened or what he said yesterday and he may not care.
There are no consequences for lying anyway (unless it’s about sex, of course). Clark Hoyt would tell us that, technically, McCain is right that Obama suspended his campaign since Obama stopped campaigning a few months later, after the election.
February 24, 2010 1:11 pm
Posted in: Did You Know John McCain Was A POW?, General Stupidity, Good News For Conservatives, We Are All Mayans Now
89 Comments
89 Responses
thomas Levenson - February 24, 2010 | 1:14 pm · Link
McCain is not senile. This is entirely consistent with his career. The only question is whether this can be built into a humiliating defeat this year in AZ. Here’s hoping.
DougJ - February 24, 2010 | 1:15 pm · Link
@thomas Levenson:
I’m not hoping for a Senator Hayworth, personally.
Blue Neponset - February 24, 2010 | 1:16 pm · Link
It is OK to lie about sex if you abandon your duties as governor and flying to Argentina to get it on with your mistress or you are a Republican. I can’t remember which.
Cat Lady - February 24, 2010 | 1:19 pm · Link
Good goddamn we dodged a big bullet. If Hayworth beats McCain that’s the last we’ll see of him, and good riddance to that lying piece of stinking crap.
schrodinger's cat - February 24, 2010 | 1:20 pm · Link
McCain is such a sore loser, go home already, you lost the election.
El Cid - February 24, 2010 | 1:20 pm · Link
Also, ACORN killed JFK, because someone Clark Hoyt liked said so.
Catsy - February 24, 2010 | 1:21 pm · Link
There’s a pretty solid chance that McCain is done this year. And even if he survives reelection, he’s done anyway: he will never be president, and he knows it. His image, his reputation, are completely shredded, and he knows it.
This is what’s driving a lot of what we’ve seen from McCain in the last year. Bush screwed him out of his chance in 2000, Obama screwed him out of his chance in 2008, and in 2016 or even 2012 he’s just too old—and he’s become a national joke thanks to his atrocious 2008 presidential campaign.
John McCain knows all this, and he is an extremely bitter, resentful old shell of a man. Everything you see from him now is a product of being acutely aware that he has failed to achieve his lifelong ambition, and never will.
WyldPiratd - February 24, 2010 | 1:21 pm · Link
In a couple of paragraphs, dougj summarizes why the US is circling the toilet like a turd—there are no consequences for lying as reality no longer matters to our leaders.
schrodinger's cat - February 24, 2010 | 1:22 pm · Link
@DougJ
Did you read Ruth Marcus’s column in your favorite newspaper today?
Dreggas - February 24, 2010 | 1:22 pm · Link
in other weird, up is down news Glen Beck believes in global warming
DougJ - February 24, 2010 | 1:23 pm · Link
@schrodinger’s cat:
Yes, I did. I thought I’d spare you all.
Linda Featheringill - February 24, 2010 | 1:23 pm · Link
I never supported John McCain but I don’t hate him. Why is he doing this to himself?
McCain would have a much more dignified rest-of-his-lkife if he just let the Senate go. Allow Arizona to put somebody else in that place. He would probably be the elder statesman forever. He would still have influence. He doesn’t need the money. It could be a very good life.
But he won’t do that. Like a compulsive gambler, he will stay in the game, at any cost, until he is kicked to the curb.
Ash Can - February 24, 2010 | 1:23 pm · Link
I think this is the money quote from the article, and sums up McCain and his entire philosophy quite nicely:
John Dillinger - February 24, 2010 | 1:23 pm · Link
@Cat Lady: Sorry to burst your bubble, but the Sunday show bookers aren’t going to forget about McCain just because he lost. Instead of reinventing history, it would be much more enjoyable were McCain to actually fire up “the Straight Talk Express” and explain to the voters of Arizona what a buffoon Hayworth is.
Mike Kay - February 24, 2010 | 1:26 pm · Link
@WyldPiratd:
lying doesn’t matter, as long as you are a republican.
lying about a blow job, and the world comes to a halt.
lying about WMDs, and outing a deep cover CIA agent—- meh
dmsilev - February 24, 2010 | 1:27 pm · Link
@Catsy: There’s no way that he’d run for President in 2012. Running against the guy who trounced him once already? Not going to happen. He’d never make it out of the primaries. And by 2016, he’ll be 80.
-dms
Tonybrown74 - February 24, 2010 | 1:27 pm · Link
@DougJ:
Now I’m curious. I guess you will force me to look it up.
licensed to kill time - February 24, 2010 | 1:29 pm · Link
@Ash Can: In other words, IOKIYAMcC.
Mike Kay - February 24, 2010 | 1:30 pm · Link
@Linda Featheringill:
because he’s having an affair with a DC lobbyist. 72 year old farts who look like The Phantom of the Opera don’t get hot sex without paying for it or holding office.
jron - February 24, 2010 | 1:30 pm · Link
@DougJ: not sure what difference hayworth will make at this point.
a few years ago, he would’ve had a different impact than mccain, but now? Or will ol’ walnuts actually vote for cloture on something today that hayworth wouldn’t? I doubt it.
hayworth will likely further poison our discourse, but mccain’s “respectable” status among our media has been allowing him to that unchecked. only his crass opportunism has kept him from going full-wingnut since the election anyway.
soonergrunt - February 24, 2010 | 1:31 pm · Link
@DougJ:
At least the crazy SOB won’t be on my damn TV every freaking weekend as if he were somebody important instead of a failed senator from a relatively empty state in the minority party.
Catsy - February 24, 2010 | 1:31 pm · Link
@dmsilev: That was rather my point.
Lolis - February 24, 2010 | 1:31 pm · Link
If a strong Dem runs against McCain, this series of lies would make a really nice ad. It would be awesome to pick off McCain’s seat.
xian - February 24, 2010 | 1:32 pm · Link
what will hayworth do that mccain won’t?
unfortunately, they will book mccain on weekend talk shows, seat in the senate or know, until he’s a rotting heap of rictus.
xian - February 24, 2010 | 1:33 pm · Link
what will hayworth do that mccain won’t?
unfortunately, they will book mccain on weekend talk shows, seat in the senate or know, until he’s a rotting heap of rictus.
Kryptik - February 24, 2010 | 1:33 pm · Link
You know, when Colbert coined “truthiness” and “wikiality”, I don’t think he ever meant for them to be embraced as virtues. Ok, the character might, but I wonder if the real man wonders at night ‘Guys, you weren’t supposed to take it seriously. These are not definitions to strive for!’
ed - February 24, 2010 | 1:33 pm · Link
Huh? Reputation amongst whom? The Reality-Based Community, sure, but we don’t count for shit. I guaran-fuckin’-tee you he’ll be all over the Important and Very Serious Sunday Sit Down Talk Shows until he keels over. He may not know how many houses he owns, but he sure as shit knows where his bread’s buttered. Always has. Just ask his first wife.
Violet - February 24, 2010 | 1:33 pm · Link
There are no consequences to John McCain’s actions or statements. In fact, President McCain will be on TV again Sunday morning. They’re already pimping his upcoming MTP appearance in commercials during the Olympics.
President McCain could mow down schoolchildren with a machine gun while simultaneously smoking a joint and having a gay five-way with underage illegal immigrants, and that idiot David Gregory would still have him as a guest on MTP.
gypsy howell - February 24, 2010 | 1:35 pm · Link
@Linda Featheringill:
McCain gave up any chance to have a dignified life long long ago. I know Hayworth is a complete wackjob, but honest to god, I think I’m with jron here- how much worse could the legislative outcomes really be?
I can only hope that once McCain has been put out to pasture, he won’t be on my tv every sunday.
Oh who am I kidding. As long as the lying sack of shit is alive, the DC press will fellate him publicly.
Steve - February 24, 2010 | 1:36 pm · Link
Last sentence of this post resulted in a spit-take.
sparky - February 24, 2010 | 1:36 pm · Link
aww, cut the guy a break; he’s been doing this his whole life and it always worked before:
—i wanted to study, but i had to maintain my reputation for the good of the Academy.
—that first plane i crashed, well, everyone crashes sometime, right? so it’s unpatriotic of you to give me a hard time for being an American!
—that second plane, well, that wasn’t my fault! the runway wasn’t where i was told it would be.
—that third plane, well, nobody told me i had to return it!
—that fourth plane, somebody screwed the gas cap on wrong when they filled it.
—that fifth plane: I’M A POW. also.
—that first wife: i mean, look at her! and this one has more money, anyway. did i mention i’m a POW!
soonergrunt - February 24, 2010 | 1:36 pm · Link
@schrodinger’s cat:
It’s a copy/paste from Gerson’s tripe. Or Gerson’s tripe is a copy/paste from Marcus’ tripe. I can’t tell which one came first.
The WaPo should fire one of them in a cost-saving move. Eliminate the redundancy.
Max - February 24, 2010 | 1:37 pm · Link
I am loving the Hayworth / McCain primary. So much fun, and a precursor, methinks, to the GOP ‘ers in 2012.
When your base is crazy, it makes for entertainment (for the other party).
DonBelacquaDelPurgatorio - February 24, 2010 | 1:37 pm · Link
@thomas Levenson:
Be careful what you wish for. Hayworth is basically what you get when you cross John Birch with Foghorn Leghorn.
demo woman - February 24, 2010 | 1:38 pm · Link
If someone challenges McCain’s sanity, McCain’s infamous temper will flare. Now, that would make a good ad.
Cain - February 24, 2010 | 1:39 pm · Link
@xian:
You boot McCain and he will grow more powerful than you can ever imagne. Instead of just hearing his bullshit occasionally, you’ll hear it everyday, all the time on Fox, CNN, MSNBC, and finally he might just show up at the white house press corp room and do old man farts just for kicks.
cain
licensed to kill time - February 24, 2010 | 1:39 pm · Link
@soonergrunt:
I’m not so sure about that – look at Cheney, failed VP but current go-to spokeshole for everything anti-Obama and Bush History Revision Division. McCain will most likely still be sitting in the Republican Elder Statesman chair every damn Sunday, right next to Cheney until both old geezers finally keel over.
Violet - February 24, 2010 | 1:40 pm · Link
Is there a strong Dem running for McCain’s seat? If Hayworth wins, and he’s gone full metal teabagger, then maybe a moderate, reasonable Dem would have a chance? I’m not following it at all, but it’s funny that McCain is having to deal with a teabag revolution after being responsible for unleashing Palin on the rest of the country. Serves him right, but we’re all losers in that regard.
Violet - February 24, 2010 | 1:41 pm · Link
@licensed to kill time:
Could go either way. Cheney left office because he couldn’t run again. If McCain leaves it’s because he lost. Leaves a different stench.
kay - February 24, 2010 | 1:42 pm · Link
@Linda Featheringill:
The excerpt from Paulson’s book that the WSJ printed was really damaging to McCain. I thought it was just devastating.
He really wasn’t fit to be President. Not only did he pull that stupid stunt, he didn’t have anything to say when he got there, because he doesn’t know anything about the economy.
He couldn’t get beyond his resentment of Obama, so sat there stewing, and the meeting showed he held no sway with Republicans in Congress, who abandoned him and covered their own political ass.
They know him better than anyone, he’s a life-long member of Congress, and my overall impression, reading Paulson’s account, was that they don’t have any respect for him.
Both Democrats and Republicans knew they had to make a quick decision on TARP, and they knew it wasn’t going to be politically popular. The Congressional Republicans ignored McCain’s desperate attempt to show he was “a leader”. It was like he wasn’t there.
Napoleon - February 24, 2010 | 1:42 pm · Link
Dana Milbank and Liz Sidoti are going to be crushed when they learn about this.
SiubhanDuinne - February 24, 2010 | 1:42 pm · Link
The good thing if McCain loses the primary/general election in AZ is that it will free up his time so he’ll be able to go on the Sunday morning talk shows as often as he wants.
Zifnab - February 24, 2010 | 1:44 pm · Link
@DougJ:
Why not? It’s not like McCain votes for anything with even the faintest wiff of “liberal” on it anymore. And Hayworth is a goon, a loudmouth, and a crook. There’s better odds that he’ll flame out by the end of his first term than McCain blowing up before the end of his – what? Fifth?
Screw it. Bring on the Hayworth. Maybe after the Good ‘ole Boy Dems see another one of their across-the-aisle buddies sniped down by tea baggers, they’ll quit this relentless obsession with bipartisanship. Lord knows Hayworth won’t be interested in it.
Crusty Dem - February 24, 2010 | 1:44 pm · Link
I’m pretty sure McCain has already lied about sex, but no one is following him around like Edwards, and without an angry ex-mistress with a stained blue dress, he’ll never get busted..
Kryptik - February 24, 2010 | 1:45 pm · Link
@Violet:
You kidding? Gregory’d openly ask why Obama forced McCain into all that.
Phantomist - February 24, 2010 | 1:46 pm · Link
You do know that, for five years John McCain didn’t have a chance to lie about suspending his campaign.
jenniebee - February 24, 2010 | 1:47 pm · Link
@DonBelacquaDelPurgatorio: FTW
licensed to kill time - February 24, 2010 | 1:47 pm · Link
@Violet:
A different stench for you and I, perhaps. I think the MSM have impaired olfactory detection systems.
ajr22 - February 24, 2010 | 1:47 pm · Link
He could just retire and stop being the spiteful old man that he is, but then he would probably die in 6 months.
jenniebee - February 24, 2010 | 1:49 pm · Link
@Zifnab: not only that, but Hayworth isn’t going to be on the teevee Sunday mornings. Anything that makes life hard for the bobblehead tv booking people is a win for democracy.
Violet - February 24, 2010 | 1:49 pm · Link
@Kryptik:
Of course he would. I figure McCain must have the goods on some of the bigwigs in the press. Why else would they have him on over and over. BBQ’s at his place aren’t enough after awhile.
Tsulagi - February 24, 2010 | 1:49 pm · Link
You could go with the benefit of the doubt, but think you could safely go with the correction above. The reality crafted today supercedes past actual events.
Oh yeah, tell that to Naked Day Appalachian Trail trekker and world renowned soulmate hunter, Gov. Mark Sanford. Or C-Streeter married staff banger Ensign.
El Cid - February 24, 2010 | 1:50 pm · Link
STOP MAKING FUN OF
TRIG PALINJOHN MCCAIN!dmsilev - February 24, 2010 | 1:50 pm · Link
@Catsy: Sorry. Somehow I missed that.
Must be running low on coffee.
-dms
freelancer - February 24, 2010 | 1:50 pm · Link
@DougJ:
The Populist - February 24, 2010 | 1:54 pm · Link
I just sent JD Hayworth $10. I so badly want him to put this old fart out of his misery.
Once AZ sees what a loon Hayworth is, the Dem may have a shot.
Mike Kay - February 24, 2010 | 1:54 pm · Link
@kay:
the Halperin book is devastating on this account.
McCain just sat there and said nothing for 40 minutes. Then they had to ask him to say something, at which time he began reciting talking points from index cards that didn’t relate to anything that had been said during the prior 40 minutes. Meanwhile, Obama was running rings around the participants.
El Cid - February 24, 2010 | 1:55 pm · Link
If you keep suggesting that McCain’s POW experience doesn’t automagically make him qualified to be Preznit, Bob Schieffer will cry two weeks in a row on CBS national TV.
bemused - February 24, 2010 | 1:57 pm · Link
McCain has a nasty temper but I don’t ever remember seeing him have a tantrum on news shows. He may have thrown a fit but it’s been either edited out or no host has ever punched his buttons or both.
Mike Kay - February 24, 2010 | 2:00 pm · Link
If mccain loses, I have a strong suspicion he will run as an Indie or even switch parties.
The truth is he can probably win state wide, but winning a primary full of teabaggers may be a no-sale.
Max - February 24, 2010 | 2:01 pm · Link
@Mike Kay: I just started reading “Game Change”.
So good so far.
Keith - February 24, 2010 | 2:10 pm · Link
We are all full of shit now.
Chuck Butcher - February 24, 2010 | 2:21 pm · Link
I’m still trying to figure out what was in the rhetoric or the record in 2000 that got the media so hot for McPOW. I never saw it and neither did I ever see any price paid by him for his bullshit like Chuck Keating.
bemused - February 24, 2010 | 2:25 pm · Link
@Chuck Butcher:
McCain barbecued for the press with his own little hands at his Arizona ranch.
ThatLeftTurnInABQ - February 24, 2010 | 2:32 pm · Link
Not to be morbid or anything, but something else to factor into our analysis before we go full operation chaos here is that if Hayworth wins, he is more likely to serve the full 6 years of his term than is McCain (with his health at his age). If McCain has to retire or dies in office in the next 6 years, we get another shot at that Senate seat before 2016.
Truth or Scare - February 24, 2010 | 2:39 pm · Link
As an AZ resident I echo Zifnab @41 (sorry, don’t know WP or how to do the block quote thing). As a practical matter there won’t be a dime’s worth of difference between the future votes of Hayworth and McCain. Who here thinks McCain is ever going to vote for something Obama supports? hahaha So why not throw some $$ Hayworth’s way? He’s a blowhard, a criminal and a birther who really puts the ugly face to the wingers’ game. And as a RedState poster accurately and repeatedly notes, there’s no more dangerous place than standing between Hayworth and a camera. He’ll give ol’ John a real run for this money on the race to the Sunday talking heads, and remove all doubt about the ugliness of the hard right. There isn’t a good Dem in the race yet and I’ll have to research McCain’s ability to pull a Lieberrat should he lose the primary, but for now I’d argue for the “Hippies for Hayworth” effort.
debbie - February 24, 2010 | 2:40 pm · Link
@Violet:
I don’t know. He could set off Letterman again and do real damage to himself.
The Populist - February 24, 2010 | 2:40 pm · Link
@Mike Kay:
I don’t know about that. He loses a primary and that could hurt him badly. The media would question how he could lose to a guy like Hayworth and the people may see him as elitist and completely out of touch because he should easily beat a schlub like former congresswoman JD Hayworth.
Chuck Butcher - February 24, 2010 | 2:42 pm · Link
@bemused:
I’m not nearly that cheap a date…
The Populist - February 24, 2010 | 2:42 pm · Link
@ThatLeftTurnInABQ:
Fine…then we have to make sure we get seats elsewhere. It is more than likely that no matter who wins this race, teh crazy will never go away. After all, this is Arizona we are talking about. Home to people who vote against their own self interest time and time again (no offense intended to any fellow BJ’ers who live there—- you know what I mean though).
bemused - February 24, 2010 | 2:49 pm · Link
@Chuck Butcher:
But McCain used his own recipe of special spices…
DonBelacquaDelPurgatorio - February 24, 2010 | 2:52 pm · Link
@The Populist:
Take it easy on the Arizona bashing. Arizona is still the first state that voted against a DOMA measure (the first time around) in a referendum. Elected and reelected a Dem, gay, woman governor and would have done so again but for term limits and a cabinet appointment. Has a Dem gay attorney general.
AZ is not a knee jerk red state. It’s a divided state with a red legacy and a blue future.
Plus, the Grand Canyon beats whatever lame tourist attraction lives in your favorite other state. By a wide and deep margin, if you will pardon the expression.
Bender - February 24, 2010 | 2:53 pm · Link
Since you asked…
Duh! He was a Bush-hating, populist-talking, “torture”-banning, 9/11-commissioning, pro-amnesty Republican warming alarmist! He was the farthest-left GOPper in the race, so Big Media pimped him non-stop… until the very day he won the GOP nomination. The next day, oh-so-strangely, the Times ran its “affair” hit piece that everyone disavowed as soon as it got on Page One, and The Bush-hating Centrist Maverick of the primaries was immediately dubbed “John McSame, GWB 2.0.”
kay - February 24, 2010 | 2:55 pm · Link
@Mike Kay:
Leaving Obama aside, it’s devastating all by itself. It doesn’t really require a comparison.
McCain admitted during the campaign he doesn’t know anything about the economy, so fine. I don’t know how he missed the economy, he’s been in Congress forever, but, okay, he’s a “specialist” of some sort, and he didn’t have time to learn anything, his whole working life.
Then he calls this big, dramatic meeting on the economy, where he is bound to be the center of attention, because, well, he called it, and he sits there, silent and stewing and resentful?
What is he, five years old?
R-Jud - February 24, 2010 | 2:56 pm · Link
@bemused:
I believe there was also a tire swing.
Mike in NC - February 24, 2010 | 2:57 pm · Link
Damn straight. The newspaper today reported that Cheney’s recent (mild) heart attack was his fifth. He also had five draft deferments back in Vietnam days. Five must be his lucky number. Maybe heart attack #6 will be ‘The Big One’ that finally rids the planet of this malignancy.
Chuck Butcher - February 24, 2010 | 3:01 pm · Link
@R-Jud:
So you’re saying there was some swinging going on? Considering who was there…yuck.
R-Jud - February 24, 2010 | 3:02 pm · Link
@Chuck Butcher:
I am pouring another glass of wine now. And adding bleach.
Thanks a lot.
Chuck Butcher - February 24, 2010 | 3:04 pm · Link
@R-Jud:
Maybe pictures would explain a lot about how it’s gone since…
Watch mixing your bottles.
bemused - February 24, 2010 | 3:06 pm · Link
@R-Jud:
I forgot that. The tire swing plus the barbecue, irresistible. Is this the same time that the invited media brought Cindy flowers? Sweet of them. I just remembered the time a member of the media at another forum (not McCain’s turf) brought Johnny some cupcakes & gave them to him on stage. Gah…not even a tinge of embarrassment.
DonBelacquaDelPurgatorio - February 24, 2010 | 3:33 pm · Link
@bemused:
Access, then privilege, then rewards.
The “media” track to success.
Any pretense that there is journalism going on is long ago forgotten. Journalism requires a conscience.
Toni - February 24, 2010 | 3:33 pm · Link
@Mike Kay: According to Game Change Obama was essentially running the meeting. He was the one who called on McCain.
Game Change is a really good book.
Erik M. - February 24, 2010 | 3:57 pm · Link
That’s a brilliant line! I’m still smiling.
Cat Lady - February 24, 2010 | 4:28 pm · Link
@kay:
My favorite part of that whole weird week was when McCain said he hadn’t had time to read the draft of the emergency statute Paulson and Bernanke put together yet. It was 2.5 double spaced pages long.
El Cid - February 24, 2010 | 4:30 pm · Link
@Cat Lady: Yeah—an under 3 page ransom note. What, could he not find his reading glasses?
mcc - February 24, 2010 | 5:42 pm · Link
So something I’ve been thinking.
From 2000 to 2006 or so, McCain seems to have been driven exclusively by a desire to stick it to George W. Bush after Bush beat him in an election.
From 2008 until now, McCain seems to have been driven exclusively by a desire to stick it to Barack Obama after Obama beat him in an election.
So let’s say J.D. Hayworth beats McCain—does that mean from that moment onward McCain will be driven exclusively by a desire to stick it to J.D. Hayworth? Will McCain spend his final months in office promoting the Public Option and gays in the military?
kay - February 24, 2010 | 5:50 pm · Link
@Cat Lady:
See, I didn’t even know that. Have you ever seen another Presidential candidate get a complete pass by the press when they proudly announce they know nothing about the economy? Remember? He said he would read Greenspan’s book.
That was the McCain Plan. At some undetermined point in the future, McCain would read the Architect of Financial Disaster’s book. And…tell us about it? Turn in a book report? What?
They were all chuckling indulgently, because they love him, personally and deeply.
Cat Lady - February 24, 2010 | 7:58 pm · Link
@kay:
Just for the record:
Here’s the link to McCain’s statement.
Here’s the complete text of the draft proposal.
McCain is a stinking liar, and the first question out of the interviewers mouth after his comment is why the fuck if you want to be president can’t you take a couple of minutes to read a proposed bill spending 700 billion dollars with no oversight? John McCain sucks but the media sucks and swallows. Sorry, but eeewwww.
chk - February 25, 2010 | 1:26 pm · Link
There is no real, only what they tell us so that we will help them or defend them or be a little bit less tired and scared. Campaign bus: “The Real (where there is no real except what I tell you) Talk Express.” Credit where it’s due—the bus name (without the parenthetical remark) was offered by Chris Hayes..