Thank you, Arianna, for stating the readily obvious that is being shrouded behind media smoke and mirrors, and is unfortunately fooling some folks.

Even the rabid right-wing attacks seem calculated, as though trying to lull gullible Bush-weary moderates and liberals into thinking "he must be okay if Coulter is attacking him."

The most chilling thing I think McCain said is that the American people don't mind staying in Iraq for a hundred years if American's aren't getting hurt. He's banking on the cynism of Americans who don't mind occupying another country to steal their resources. He thinks Americans are okay with others being maimed, enslaved and killed as long as it isn't our children.

I know he couldn't be more wrong, and I trust the voters will tell him so come November.

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And we've got the money shot of his betrayal on tape: McCain singing the praises of Karl Rove, calling him "one of the smartest political minds in America," and saying, "I'd be glad to get his advice."

...especially in 2004, when the voters were faced with a choice between one Yale frat boy and his mirror image, Rove's pony took the golden cup home by a nose. If you're interested more in winning rather than governing wisely, you could do a lot worse than turd blossom, in a close race amongst a field of political clones.

Sigh. I suppose that's the problem this article addresses.

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What we're seeing with McCain is an old man who knows he's got far fewer days ahead of him than behind, and that this is his absolute last shot at being named Prom King before graduation. To him, it's worth ditching his steady gal to woo the hot-but-snotty cheerleader. And still the cable news outlets ooh and ahh, as if Grandad is about to do his quarter-behind-the-ear trick for the kids.

Almost as astonishing is MSNBC's crush on Huckabee, amidst which we hear absolutely no coverage of his hardcore-fundie views --- not that it matters a great deal in terms of winning the White House at this stage, but it still shows a stunning lack of anything resembling journalism.

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It is quite clear the John McCain isn't bowing at the feet of conservatives.. Judging by the number of people saying they'd vote for Hillary if McCain was nominated shows just how unconservative McCain is, and how conservative Hillary really is!

As for Carl Rove, regardless of his politics, no one can deny he knows how to run a campaign, republican or democrat and knows more about the process, how to back stab your opponent, than anyone other than probably Clinton. And since McCain is trying to run AGAINST a democrat, who would he look to for support. Teddy - sorry, that drunk is already taken.?

Obama accepting the support of Kennedy, that worthless drunk who continues to make the wrong life decisions and would be in jail were it not for his money should show everyone that NO POLITICAN is beyond playing in the dirt..It's what they all do.

I can't believe I'm voting for someone that Kennedy is backing. Wonders never cease!

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McCain voted for the Military Commissions Act, something Huffington references, but the most disgusting part of what McCain did was voting against the Kennedy amendment to the Military Commisions Act. It would have outlawed waterboarding, which McCain says he is against, and rape, which he has not taken a public stand on in this campaign so I guess all we have to go on is this vote. What kind of sick twisted individual do you have to be to vote for torture when you were a victim of it?

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Representative democracy is obsolete.

Government of the people, by the people and for the people.

Direct Democracy

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McCain is unqualified to be president of the US because he promotes a war that is destroying the US domestically, internationally, and thrashing our military. We won the initial war easily; we should have left when Sadat was deposed and probably replaced him with one of the generals we had been dealing with to depose him. We then Katrinaized Iraq. The US is now the enemy to the Iraqi people and will remain so until we leave. True, we wrecked their country, but only the Iraqis can put it together again.

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As usual Arianna does not know her ass from a hole in the ground. There are so many conservatives floating around you need a score card to tell them apart.

The social conservatives clearly are voting for Huckabee in the primaries. McCain and Huckabee can unite over the war in Iraq and the war on terror in general and kill those evil Muslim hoards. Huckabee will throw his support to McCain at some point in order to secure this group for McCain and maybe himself a VP.

The fiscal conservatives, where have they gone a long time passing, would clearly support McCain who has tried to reign in congressional spending most of his carrier. I am not sure there is a fiscal conservative any more.

The supply side conservatives definitely do not like McCain. It is a shame McCain has to switch on his tax policy to kiss their buts. Supply side economic theory is a disaster. Unlike scientific theories economic theory can only be tested in the school of hard knocks. None of the predictions of the theory turned out to be true. The deficits of Reagen and Bush are a disaster. History will look back on these conservatives and wonder where were their heads could have been.

The radio and TV conservatives have been badmouthing McCain from the beginning. It is great to see Hannidy back stroking to jump on the McCain bad wagon. They are just paid political mouths, but who is really paying them? It has to be the supply siders.

Who is actually supporting McCain it is not the conservatives, which means that the conservatives in the repuk party are actually a minority because McCain is winning without them? Moderates and independents are his supporters, unfortunately they are the dogs of war. While McCain was not the first choice of the conservatives, they will support him if he pretends to kiss their ass so they can save face. McCain will not be the pushover that demons think they will be in a national election.

Clinton can not win the national election with out the Obama independents and newbees, but this is pretty much irrelevant. Obama will make a stand at the Alamo. Once the Latinos see Obama as a presidential candidate in stead of a black man, they will swing from Clinton, whom they know, to Obama. The gender vote is a little bit tougher because it is a matter of principal. Those hearts will change at the Alamo. Obama still has one major problem standing in his way, who can he choose as vice president. It can not be Clinton she is the establishment just like McCain. It can not be Edwards because every one gets to sit at the Obama table. That decision will make or break Obama.

I would choose Kucinich and let him take the moral high ground and run around the country calling the Iraq war an immoral war. I would then run around the country saying what I would do with the war. They could get McCain double talking so fast he would start mumbling. Sooner or later, being a warzoner, he would fire some for effect. If Obama can not turn the dogs of war into lap dogs he will lose.

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Solrev, you are so right: As usual Arianna does not know...

Still, even in their wildest dreams Republicans don't dare hope for an Obama/Kucinich ticket. Sure most of us here would vote for it. Could be I'm just growing bitter, or only talk to the wrong kind of people, but I'm guessing 99% of American voters would go for McCain hands down over an O/K ticket.

That's what we're up against.

I'm afraid things may have to get a lot worse before most Americans feel any desire to get smarter.

So maybe we should all vote for McCain after all — he's certain to make things worse the fastest. Then once the crash is over and the dust settles maybe we can start healing. It's watching it happen in slow-motion that's getting to me.

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The Bush-hating "straight-shooting" maverick McCain disappeared several years ago due to either an undiagnosed stroke or just one kept highly secret, and in his place came "Insane McCain" with his "Bomb, Bomb Iran" ditties, signing the Streisand songbook on SNL, and going ballistic on nearly everyone in the Senate to the point they actually thought he'd have to be hospitalized.

Not to mention fighting with Lieberman over every drop of drool from Bush's mouth. And wanting to shut down the internet because of posts like this.

The man is not the same man he used to be; you can say that again, and again, and again, and again, until it sinks in.

Strokes are tricky things; depending on which part of the brain they affect and how severe they are, EXTREME personality changes can and often do take place. And McCain is not the only Bush enemy who was on the receiving end of US military top secret microwave generating devices. Not by a long shot.

You know what happens when you put something living into a microwave oven? It explodes.

Just like a blood vessel in the brain.

You know what will happen to the planet if America puts "Insane McCain" in the White House?

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I am alarmed by the silence re McCain's anti-choice stance, which he now boasts about. His promise to appoint more judges "like Roberts and Alito" sends a clear message. Perhaps even more alarming is the silence of the Democratic campaigners. Apparently, the subject of women's reproductive rights is tabu.
In any case,McCain, whatever likeable qualities he may once have had, is now a war-mad, fearmongering nightmare.

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First, it was Moe (reagan), a doddering old man who was described as "dumb as a stump" by one of his own. Then came Larry (bush), a hapless twit with nothing but ignominious failures to recommend him. Now it's Curly (mccain), a vainglorious fool who's flip-flopped so many times he can hardly remember who he is. Enough with the comedy, already.

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I agree with the assessment of McCain. But, how is Hillary much different? Her politics are a little different, not much, she did support the Iraq war. But, she is a slick talking politico who can flip-flop on a dime. She claims to be progressive, but, has taken mega-bucks from the Wall Street boys and the banks. History says she does not disappoint either when it comes to repaying the favors (eg, bankruptcy bill). Now for Obama, his politics seem better then Hillary's, but not much. He spews so much rhetoric it's impossible to pin him down on positions and the Wall Street boys continue to bankroll him. What does he promise? An audacity of what? So, McCain is a phony, of course, but what about Hillary/Obama. The real non-phonies, Edwards/Kuicinch are gone. And, now we see what is left.

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It's hard to tell how much McCain has sold out to evil, when you listen to him read speeches. It sounds to me like it is possible that early onset senility is coming to the front, and it is hard for him to get beyond the sound bytes of right wing politics. I seriously can not believe that the man who in past years represented a principled response to government, now only parots the lines no new taxes, and win the war.

What scares me more is listening to Americans talk about politics. It seems like there is collective senility affecting much of the population

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........or is getting Alzheimer's or is just pandering to the worst in the U.S. doesn't matter. Either way he's an asshole, but what would you expect from someone running on the Refucklican ticket? The whole goddamn party has abandoned any claim to morality.

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I bet right up to the time that Rome fell they NEVER believed it would happen.

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Lest we forget - McCain speaking in support of Bush after what Bush and Rove did to him in the primaries should have shown us even then that there was something wrong with McCain. I'm not crazy about grudges or revenge, but I find groveling a reprehensible trait in a political candidate.

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and he voted to protect the telecoms who colluded with the Bush administration to violate all Americans' civil rights. McCain supports the Senate version of the FISA extension. This version grants immunity to the telecoms -- effectively an ex post facto law which legalizes behavior/activities done prior to the passage (hopefully no passage) of the law. Didn't I learn in 5th, 8th, and 12th grades that this is expressly forbidden in the Constitution? Oh well, I guess the king in the White House is the absolute power to determine what is law, and what isn't. No wonder McCain wants to be president, it's nearly as good as being crowned king.

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Ariana, you have been tryint to draft Gore. Any possibility that he joins the Obama ticket? That would indeed be the absolute winning ticket, a landslide that will leave McCaine without a single state, not even his own state of Arizona.

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So, John Edwards' two Americas plays itself out in a different way: those who consider themselves conservatives and patriotic will play the race card and pull the lever for McCain, and those who consider themselves anti-war and anti-big business will pull the lever for Obama.

And in January, neither faction will get what they want, neither will get the change the country needs. We never seem to be able to choose. We always seem to settle. And in settling we give away our votes and our ability to imagine a different future.

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Arianna if you would practice what you preach you would carry a lot more credibility. You have used your site "The Huffington Post" as a weapon to try and destroy Hillary Clinton. Your site along with "Americablog" have played dirty politics by being nasty and demeaning to a Democratic candidate, that might still be our nominee for president.

If you are going to get in the pulpit and preach be sure you have washed the garments you're wearing. I'm asking you to stop the Hillary bashing on HuffPo today, not only does Hillary deserve better, but your readers deserve more honesty. thanks, Kudzu

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There are plenty of us who can distinguish between the McCain from 2000 and the one today.
It's comical listening to him invoking Reagan and wanting Rove's "advice." But beware of counsel, McCain.
In the end, you'll get what you deserve.

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