"You're beginning to believe this illusion we're spinning here."

Paddy Chayefsky


Direct Democracy

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I clicked on this hoping to find some juicy dirt on McCain, and all I find is some dude whining, nursing his ego, and making catty comments because someone didn't like his book.

This isn't the first bit of high-school politics masquerading as an article. Perhaps Alternet could save their readers some time by putting a little symbol of a high school next to future articles like this.

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It's clear that unless the Dems come up with a candidate that the party can unite behind, someone who isn't damaged goods like Clinton and Obama, a McCain administration is all but certain come January of next year.

John McCain is a dottering old fool. Not only that, he's unstable. The best that can be said of the man is that he is not as jaw-droppingly stupid as George W. Bush. That's not much of an endorsement, is it?

2008 is going to be a nightmare. At no time since 1932 has the need to go in a new direction been as painfully evident. The time has come for broad and bold experimentation and yet is seems that November of 2008 is only going to bring more of the same.

Tom Degan
Goshen, NY
And now a word or two about Capital Punishment

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I haven't read your book yet, but can readily
understand what impelled it. He's been a mystery
and with little really explored and written on
(save what pieces finally came out about his
'temper') -and that lack was a mystery too.
(Especially after the temper pieces.) I'll
certainly read your work.

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Loved the cover of your book, but I must admit I feel some sympathy for John McCain when it comes to Cornyn and Grassley. Lucky I never got close enough to punch one of them.

I can't believe that McCain has a shot at the presidency...UNLESS the media start showing things like William Ayers and Rev. Wright non-stop. And Fox seems perfectly capable of it. Maybe folks will just rise up and say Enough!

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in the whitemans house? Only this tratior will do and in-fact we deserve this fool for all our greedy and non-caring ways have caught up with us.

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Look, let's face it. The Southern Strategy in full operation will give us McBush. The rest of the Country will be inundated with bilge by the likes of the rightwinger scoundrels of talk radio and especially the vermin at Fox Newsfixer Cesspool. The mentally deficient and grossly ignorant comprising most of their audiences will see to fornicating themselves and the rest of us by voting for shameless Republican stooges who work so assiduously for the welfare of the Neofascist Plutocrats in control of the Party. Thus, we face four more years of the Bush Disaster aided and abetted by the said stooges in Congress who may well be in the majority once again. Worse, just think of the characters McBush will dredge up to "take care of things" at the Supreme Court, joining the quartet of Thomas, Scalia, Alito and Roberts. God help us.

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Can't help wondering if McCain's business transaction (if there was one) in Hanoi's red light district was his idea of normalising relations with Vietnam. After all he put enough effort into entering and trying to subdue the whole country.

But there is enough provable material not to have to use stuff about his private life (unless he starts doing it to the Democrat candidate). Lots of extremely damaging sound bites to flood the country with them over and over again when the main electoral battle gets under way.

Not that that will save the day. Bush was as bad and twice he managed to get within faking distance of a real win. Never underestimate the power of millions of knuckledraggers.

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What I just read was a waste of my life. I cant figure out if it is a joke. Marriage can be very tough. I was sad to see this piece of "trash" on alternet. Somebody should slap an editor. It was less than a page to accuse a politician's staff of running damage control. So the author wrote this little spiteful worthless piece of garbage and then it was published. Gross. People should be able to wander were every the hell they want to. Write shit like this. Well prove it. You know what they say about assuming.

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What is credible is the statement I heard on the TV show "30 Rock," which claimed that McCain has organized a Committee to Re-Invade Vietnam. I understand that he tried to get the Pope to make a donation to the Committee. But McCain dozed off during his meeting with the Pope and so the Pope accidentally administered Last Rites to the ancient hero of the Vietnam war.

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Senator John McCain made most of his money the old fashioned way--he married into it.

Cindy Hensley McCain, John McCain's second wife, made her money another old fashioned way--she inherited it. She is worth an estimated $100 million because her family made it big in the beer industry.

When Cindy McCain was caught stealing drugs to feed her personal drug addiction, did she go to jail or prison? Nope. She went to the Betty Ford Clinic. To See this Phoenix New Times article from 1994 Google: Cindy McCain and
opiate-for-the-mrs

The very wealthy and politically well-connected never go to prison or jail for drug crimes. Just the unwashed masses.

John McCain is against the re-legalization of marijuana for medical reasons or any other reasons. Could it be because he knows that marijuana users drink a lot less beer than non-marijuana users?

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I voted for McCain when he ran against Bush, but I would never vote for him now.
He was a hero and now he is a disgrace. Why does he keep running his past hero military film (because thats what he is a has been).
I noticed that he and his wife were not as friendly toward each other on the stage as they were when he ran against Bush, and commented on this to my friend, so maybe they are estranged.
I could'nt stand the ugh ugh when our current presiden spoke and now we are hearing "MY FRIEND"
PLEASE PEOPLE DON'T VOTE FOR THIS MAN********

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This piece of yellow journalism was a complete waste of time and reminded me of republican campaigns in previous presidential election years and the Clinton campaign of present (for those who scoff [and the following is from memory, so may not be exact], do you remember her less than unequivocal response to "do you think Barack Obama is a Muslim?"). It's the politics of fear and the campaigns of smear. This sort of innuendo is simply tragic be it about McCain, Clinton or Barack. We're electing a president. We deserve better.

But...with that said...do we really deserve better? We know that McCain has a temper the size of Toledo. We know he uses profanity that even the worst of us generally do not. We know he has a tendency towards physical violence when he runs out of ideas. We know if he's elected the chances are we're going to Iran after more "tarrarists" and because they have "WMDs" and are an "imminent threat." We know that throughout his career he has flip-flopped on virtually every issue of consequence to the point that dems sometimes like him, repubs many times can't stand him and independents as often as not think "he's one of us." We know he's aligned himself with an administration whose approval rating hovers around 30% and for those of us with thoughts, we wonder "how can that be so high?" We know, too, by simply watching one of his coma-inducing speeches, that his mental faculties appear to be waning as he sort of seems to blink on and off throughout his tiresome discourse.

We know all of the preceding is pretty much factual and yet whenever there's a poll run he's even or ahead with every candidate and simply by selecting someone who is probably as incompetent as any in the Bush era as his running mate McCain and Rice beat, and beat handily, Hillary/Barack, Barack/Hillary, or any other combination of any other candidates.

So I don't care if this tired, old man went to Hanoi and got his rocks off. Good for him. Maybe it makes him less hate filled. I care that with all we know, he's a viable candidate to lead this nation when we need something more akin to the opposite.

Perhaps we do deserve this sort of continuation of our tragedy, if we're this blind, this stupid and this asleep (again).

Obama '08

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until i want to justify myself.

admirable journalistic ethics.

reports of and comments on mccain's temper were a constant until this year. the machine probably thought everyone would forget facts that were reported years in the past. and they were right.

why would a european magazine respond to mccain's aide? unless it's owned by mordoch. in which, case, why blame the aid?

old rich men running the country, suppressing the opposition. i keep thinking of tianamen square.

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and Crystal Benton are nothing more that fascist pigs, suppressing truth while lying for McCain? That they and other pustulent people like them have corrupted this country with their political chicanery? Naww.

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This is a disgraceful example of flakking one own's book by pimping out rumors on a candidate's private life. Get up out of the gutter and learn how to report on the issues, please.

You've assured that I will never read this book.

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There are dozens of ways to shoot down John McCain.

Iraq War aside, his flip-flop on Bush 43's tax breaks for the rich should be enough to convince most Americans to vote Democratic this year. But that wouldn't sell a book. So why not write about the senator "frequenting" a Hanoi red light district?

Trash journalism? You bet your ass it is! All Schecter's article does is generate sympathy for an untrustworthy politician (McCain) who doesn't deserve it.

Hugh E. Scott, Vietnam vet, ex-USAF pilot, lifelong registered Republican, Obama supporter and the editor of www.PhonyFighterPilot.com, the only website about George W. Bush that presents irrefutable, smoking-gun proof of White House corruption.

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What really happened when John McCain was a POW?

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Schecter says, "You see, Mr. McCain, I have purposely chosen to rise above any "outlandishness." And instead, I relied upon pure, 100% all-American (at least pre-Bush) facts"

Then he goes right ahead and mentions all the dubious or unproven allegations about McCain he claims to have risen above by not putting them in his book. No, instead he puts them on the internet, for free, for everyone to read.

I do not agree with the philosophy that anyone on the "other side" of the political spectrum (if that is how you chose to see things) is fair game to any measure of vicious attack, justified by wanting to eliminate him/her as the competition. I have seen a lot of really vicious McCain bashing in the progressive media. Vicious. I think that kind of behavior simply perpetuates the same kind of nastiness that has infected our whole political system and national political discourse.

If we are to ever overcome it, we must return to some form of civility, and re-raise our moral and ethical standards.

This article represents, at least to me, the lowest form of tabloid pseudo-journalism. If the book is better, professionally composed and thoroughly sourced and researched, then I think this article does it a tremendous disservice. If the book is like this article, then, well, is anyone surprised?

Hey...anyone up for debating the issues?

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Millington

PART ONE

I AGREE BECAUSE OF HIS WAR TIME EXPERIENCES that McCain has been far too traumatized to be fully sane. But I DISAGREE with the contention that BECAUSE John "survived a Vietnamese prison camp he should be admired and lauded as a hero." Not so! His self-acclaimed hero, Rambo, would have never surrendered in the first place. And second, and MORE IMPORTANTLY, McCain's military conduct has been called into question by his bibliographer, Mr. Eyear.

According to Roland C. Eyear:


"JOHN McCAIN [IS] THE MOST FLAWED PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE IN HISTORY"

EVENT ON THE FORRESTAL

"McCain"s most horrendous loss occurred in 1967 on the USS Forrestal. Well, not horrendous for him. The starter motor switch on the A4E Skyhawk allowed fuel to pool in the engine. When the aircraft was "wet-started," an impressive flame would shoot from the tail. It was one of the ways young hot-shots got their jollies. Investigators and survivors took the position that McCain deliberately wet-started to harass the F4 pilot directly behind him. The cook off launched an M34 Zuni rocket that tore through the Skyhawk"s fuel tank, released a thousand pound bomb, and ignited a fire that killed the pilot plus 167 men. Before the tally of dead and dying was complete, the son and grandson of admirals had been transferred to the USS Oriskany. "

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Millington

PART TWO

PRISONER OR HONORED GUEST?

"McCain"s 5�-year stay at the Hanoi Hilton (officially Hoa Loa Prison) has ever since been the subject of great controversy. He maintains that he was tortured and otherwise badly mistreated. One of many who disagree is Dennis Johnson, imprisoned at Hanoi and never given treatment for his broken leg. He reports that every time he saw McCain, who was generally kept segregated, the man was clean-shaven, dressed in fresh clothes, and appeared comfortable among North Vietnamese Army officers. He adds that he frequently heard McCain"s collaborative statements broadcast over the prison"s loud speakers.”

”On October 26, 1967, McCain"s A-4 Skyhawk was shot down over Hanoi. The fractures of 1 leg and both arms were reportedly due to his failure to tuck them in during ejection. According to U.S. News & World Report (May 14, 1973), McCain didn"t wait long before offering military information in return for medical care. While an extraordinary patient at Gi Lam Hospital, he was visited by a number of dignitaries, including, to quote McCain himself, General Vo Nguyen Giap, the national hero of Dienbienphu.”

 
Millington
 
PART THREE

"Jack McLamb is a highly respected name in law enforcement circles. After 9 years of clandestine operations in Cambodia and unmentionable areas, he returned home to Phoenix where he became one of the most decorated police officers on record. Twice McLamb was named Officer of the Year. He went on to become an FBI hostage negotiator. This man has stated that every one of the many former POWs he has talked with consider McCain a traitor. States “McLamb, "He was never tortured�The Vietnamese Communists called him the Songbird, that"s his code name, Songbird McCain, because he just came into the camp singing and telling them everything they wanted to know." McLamb further quotes former POWs as saying McCain starred in 32 propaganda videos in which he denounced his country and comrades. “

”The Glavnoje Razvedyvatel"noje Upravlenije is the Soviet"s military intelligence division. Numerous sources confirm that during the Nam Era, the English-speaking Vietnamese who conducted interrogations of American prisoners were always overseen by Russian GRU officers. The ranking GRU officer at the Hanoi Hilton had a multilingual teenage son who was tasked with translating all interrogation reports into Russian. He would become known only as T. "

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Millington
 
PART FOUR

"According to T who interpreted all interrogations and notes pertaining to McCain during the latter"s stay from December, 1969, to March, 1973, when a well-fed looking McCain"s was released, privileges were extended. These included time at a furnished apartment in Hanoi " furnished with 2 prostitutes. McCain would attribute such absences to solitary confinement.”

”It has been widely reported that following his father"s appointment as CINCPAC Commander-in-Chief of all U.S. forces in the Vietnam theater of operations, McCain was offered an immediate parole. McCain insists that he refused such a preference. Others insist that his father refused to allow such a preference. In any event, such an offer would have required the approval of the Soviet masters, and T would have seen documentation. He has no recollection of such an offer. "

 
Millington
 
PART FIVE

"In 1991 the Soviet Union was in a state of collapse. People and things were up for grabs. During that thaw, a mass document swap took place between the KGB and CIA. All T"s translations were included. If these dots are really connected, it is small wonder that McCain had fought consistently to keep all files sealed, block any attempts to retrieve POWs, and establish the friendliest of relations with his former tormentors.”

”Imagine the possibilities. A Clintonian leak during the presidential campaign. Or, in the unlikely event of a McCain victory, blackmail of the Manchurian Candidate.”

”It is public record that Admiral McCain was on hand to greet his son upon return. According to Major Mark A. Smith (USA Retired), a Green Beret and former POW, a trusted friend of his accompanied the Admiral that day. Later, when the friend referred to that meeting, McCain became enraged, volunteered that he had received "no special treatment," and then denied that his father was there. "


Millington

PART SIX

"In 1989 legislation known as The Truth Bill was introduced in the U.S. House. It required the Department of Defense to publish the names and information on all unaccounted for POWs, MIAs, and KIAs in WW II, the Korean War, and Vietnam. It languished and was resurrected 2 years later. Then came the McCain Bill, promptly enacted, that blocked such information. The DoD does not even have to acknowledge confirmed sightings of live Americans."

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““John McCain And The USS Forrestal Fire" (photo report)


The final death toll of this fire was reportedly 168 sailors. Some hero!

Wikipedia states there are pictures of Mc Cain jumping off his plane to the deck after his prank exploded his craft and touched off the deadly fire.


en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forrest_Fire


www.virtualwall.org/units/forrestal.htm - 17k -

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If you do a Google search you will find a full photo report
(turn on your sound system) under the title

“John McCain And The USS Forrestal Fire"

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He would be in a divorce court so fast his head would spin! That was just downright disrepectful and nasty...even if she really is a....c**t!

Would take my many big bucks and leave him with NOTHING!

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Authors make money selling books, like candidates, and office holders do. The millions are made, check out the Clintons on that one.

I did not read those books, they were self-serving propaganda and not honest pronouncements of intended programs and policy changes, just slight of hand, or holding their cards between their legs while they stuck their hands in fat-cats pockets, leaving IOUs to them alone.

So, who is it we should be talking about them? Not only in McCain's candidacy, but behind Clinton and Obama too?

And further, are they all interlocking in sponsors, that is, the policy-planners themselves. Who has been their sponsors and mentors as well? Is there a significant overriding, critical difference?

That will be getting serious here, and I will, but to stay on-topic nonetheless, I can say on McCain in the 'red light district' in Viet Nam, it is the least lethal thing he ever dropped there, his pants! And that is not any of our business, and not a serious issue.

McCain Loves Kissinger


'...He listed Henry Kissinger, Brent Scowcroft, Robert Kagan, George Schultz, Lawrence Eagleburger, William Kristol and Robert Zoellick... McCain singled out Kissinger in particular. “When I have a question about something that’s going on in the world, I call Dr. Kissinger, and he is able to connect the dots for me,” McCain said. “It is easy to be an expert on one aspect of some international situation. He’s one of the only people I’ve ever known who can connect the entire scenario for you in a way that you understand the completeness of the challenge.”'

Brzezinsk is Obama's mentor and Master


Obama Campaign Linked
To Chechen Terrorism
Grant Of Taxpayer-Funded U.S. Asylum For Chechen Terror
Envoy Gave Obama Foreign Policy Guru Zbigniew Brzezinski
'One Of The Happiest Days Of My Life'
By Webster G. Tarpley

Hillery The Super Hawk w/ Richard Holbrooke


"She is probably more assertive and willing to use force than her husband," says Richard Holbrooke, the former envoy for Bill Clinton. "Hillary Clinton is a classic national-security Democrat

Hidden Hitman of Policy 4 World Domination



The Pentagon's New Map
It Explains Why We're Going To War...And Why We'll Keep Going To War.
By Thomas P.M. Barnett
U.S. Naval War College

So, are these competing scenarios, or just super handlers sent to indoctrinate contending elements, in coordination of the bigger Trilateral Commission, CFR, IMF, imperial juggernaut funded by David Rockefeller and others plutocrats to repress viable dissent within the media, congress, and public at-large. A well planned and executed conspiracy of war criminals, by war criminals, for war criminals and their bloody profits.

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Just love him. Where else can you get so much entertainment for free?

Have you ever seen the RW noise machine backfire so beautifully? They've been selling him as a maverick for so long he even he believes it. But the only other people who bought it were the hardcore righties - the very people who hate mavericks the most.

I mean c'mon - by his voting record, the guy is the eighth most-conservative senator we got. But the Limpbone crowd has been conditioned to think of him as a traitorous liberal. Score!

There's no way he'll be able to compete for the primary. A few swiftboat-style attacks on "Songbird" should soften his military appeal. When we get to the debates, he will be matched against someone young, smart, and worldly. He'll look even more like a doddering old fool by contrast. He may have been a contender in 2000, when he could get by on charisma - but up against Obama eight years later, he's going to come across as a jackass.

And I'm finally going to get to open a bottle of champagne I bought in November, 2000...

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Like other posters, I also don't approve of this "trash journalism." McCain should be defeated on the issues. We didn't like it when the Republicans tried to crucify Clinton with Monica and who likes the conservatives referencing of Barrack HUSSEIN Obama? If I want trash, I'll go to a conservative site or surf porno .alt sites on USENET, enough said!

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"How can you countenance someone who was engaged in bombings which could have or did kill innocent people?"

John McCain


Direct Democracy

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For a lot of reasons.

He gets a pass on his loony business because nobody really gives a crap about him. A first-rate mind in a strong, healthy body trying to get elected as a post-Bush Republican would be one of the biggest losers in the history or American Politics. McCain, with his hardened arteries and crotchety babble is going down in flames.

The press is having fun watching Obama and Madame in the swordfight, because the winner is the next President of the United States, no matter how the Party of Death twists and turns.

That's President Obama to you.

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Washington Post article is here

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If the democrats blow the '08 election, they should be put in the stocks and whipped.

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MCCAIN IS A CRYPTO-JEW JUST LIKE SARCOZY OF FRANCE

DO SOME RESEARCH, MCCAIN IS JEWISH

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I was one of those people whio had considered Mac an admirable foe. someone who should have won the Repub nominee in '00. would have REALY been a close race between him & Gore.
Granted Personal matters are not area I wish to invade- even Public Officials- If it's not a Real crime- not our business (Prostituiton should be legalized and Regulated-safer for all involved, plus huge tax revenues). But attacking others physically, Corp Cronyism and Irrational temper tantrum area a concern( this person will have access to our Weapons- must be able to control emotions- use logic & common sense)
I've thought Mac's 'personality ' change was medically related- perhaps not. But His inability to recall what he said duing an interview only days early (& difficulty retaining information),and his body mechanics which appear to be Rehab enhanced still indicate to me he has either suffered a stroke, and/or is in th eearly stages of Alzheimers. I have a degree in Gerontology , have worked with the 'elderly' and Alzheimers patients. I saw it in Reagan Long before he left office, in fact the thought struck me while he was running theFirst time. Is Mac just another life sized Puppet for Cheney & Co. He has already indicated he would not serve 2 terms- Is the Cheney machine setting up for his Successor in '12- could it be the Girl who was originally promised the win this year - but is getting her Ass beat, even with the Corp Machine and Rovian Tactics???
The Real Mac needs to be exposed- but so does the Real Hillary.She has far more to answer for than just her Iraq Vote (Now "obliterate" Iran w/ Nukes??). What is the Duties of Oversight for the Armed Services Com (con) which Both sit on...How much did They know about the Contractors accountablity exemption, Torture, secret Prisons, Stop Loss, Troop Suicide Numbers etc etc etc.
I may not know EVERYTHING about Obama but I Certainly Know ENOUGH ABOUT HILL & MAC to know they are ACCOMPLICES WITH THE CHENEY REGIME!

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