Election News

Friday 5/23/2008

John McCain is releasing medical records, to a few  5/23/2008 LA Times: "After a long delay, John McCain's campaign plans to release the 71-year-old Republican's medical history in Phoenix today, but has decided to restrict access to the records to a small number of reporters. Campaign aides told several news outlets this week that among newspapers, only the Washington Post and the Arizona Republic would be permitted to view the Arizona senator's health records, providing a "pool report" to other print reporters who travel with the candidate."

Sunday 5/18/2008

The Bushes and Hitler's Appeasement  5/18/2008 Consortium News: "If Borah, an isolationist Republican from Idaho, sounded naïve saying “Lord, if only I could have talked to Hitler, all of this might have been avoided,” then what should be said about Bush’s grandfather and other members of his family providing banking and industrial assistance to the Nazis as they built their war machine in the 1930s? The archival evidence is now clear that Prescott Bush, the president’s grandfather, was a director and shareholder of companies that profited from and collaborated with key financial backers of Nazi Germany. That business relationship continued after Hitler invaded Poland in 1939 and even after Germany declared war on the United States following Japan’s bombing of Pearl Harbor in December 1941. It stopped only when the U.S. government seized assets of Bush-connected companies in late 1942 under the “Trading with the Enemy Act.”

Friday 5/16/2008

How Bush's grandfather helped Hitler's rise to power  5/16/2008 Guardian, UK: published 9/04, still topical with W's talk of appeasement, backed by McCain - "George Bush's grandfather, the late US senator Prescott Bush, was a director and shareholder of companies that profited from their involvement with the financial backers of Nazi Germany. The Guardian has obtained confirmation from newly discovered files in the US National Archives that a firm of which Prescott Bush was a director was involved with the financial architects of Nazism. His business dealings, which continued until his company's assets were seized in 1942 under the Trading with the Enemy Act, has led more than 60 years later to a civil action for damages being brought in Germany against the Bush family by two former slave labourers at Auschwitz and to a hum of pre-election controversy."

Pity Party  5/16/2008 WSJ: by Peggy Noonan - "Mr. Bush has squandered the hard-built paternity of 40 years. But so has the party, and so have its leaders. If they had pushed away for serious reasons, they could have separated the party's fortunes from the president's. This would have left a painfully broken party, but they wouldn't be left with a ruined "brand," as they all say, speaking the language of marketing. And they speak that language because they are marketers, not thinkers. Not serious about policy. Not serious about ideas. And not serious about leadership, only followership. This is and will be the great challenge for John McCain: The Democratic argument, now being market tested by Obama Inc., that a McCain victory will yield nothing more or less than George Bush's third term. That is going to be powerful, and it is going to get out the vote. And not for Republicans."

Thursday 5/15/2008

EVA GOLINGER - The CIA is more active than ever in Venezuela  5/15/2008 Granma: "If he should be elected president of the United States, McCain would engage in a much more hostile and aggressive policy toward Venezuela and Cuba, and even the other ALBA countries. His discourse is already more precise toward the region and he is constantly mentioning how he would further tighten policy on what he classifies as dictatorships and threats in Venezuela and Cuba. That goes beyond simply wanting the Florida vote. McCain is a military man and an imperialist in the sense that he wouldn’t accept the United States losing its influence over and domination of its "backyard." He suffers from that same complex that the other Republicans have about Cuba and Fidel Castro, for example. They still cannot accept that Cuba has defeated imperial aggression and the 50 years of blockade and attacks. They persist in their spoilt and infantile attitudes that stop them from turning the page and accepting reality: the most powerful empire in the world could not defeat the Cuban Revolution. So, with a McCain, we will be even worse off than with a Bush and, believe me, he is a hard one to surpass."

Audio Recording of McCain's Political Endorser John Hagee Preaching Jews Are Cursed and Subhuman  5/15/2008 Talk 2 Action: "Yesterday I discovered an astonishing audio recording of a sermon, by controversial McCain endorser Pastor John Hagee, in which Hagee elaborates on his view that Hitler and the Nazis were divine agents sent by God to (with gruesome inefficiency it would seem) chase Europe's Jews towards Palestine. In his 2006 book "Jerusalem Countdown", Hagee proposed that anti-Semitism, and thus the Holocaust, was the fault of Jews themselves - the result of an age old divine curse incurred by the ancient Hebrews through worshiping idols and passed, down the ages, to all Jews now alive."

Tuesday 5/13/2008

McCain and the 'Unitary Executive'  5/13/2008 Consortium News: "If John McCain wins the presidency – and gets to appoint one or more U.S. Supreme Court justices – America’s 220-year experiment as a democratic Republic living under the principle that “no man is above the law” may come to an end."

Monday 5/12/2008

"Bomb Syria" Woolsey advises McCain  5/12/2008 Real News: video - "John McCain has recruited several members of "The Committee on the Present Danger" as foreign policy advisors, including former CIA head James Woolsey. Do Woolsey's viewpoints represent McCain's vision for America and the world?"

Saturday 5/10/2008

Leader of GOP convention quits after Myanmar ties reported  5/10/2008 AP: "The man picked by the John McCain campaign to run the 2008 Republican National Convention resigned Saturday after a report that his lobbying firm used to represent the military regime in Myanmar. Doug Goodyear resigned as convention coordinator and issued a two sentence statement: "Today I offered the convention my resignation so as not to become a distraction in this campaign. I continue to strongly support John McCain for president, and wish him the best of luck in this campaign."

Monday 5/5/2008

McCain Finds His Own Radical Friend - Who's more of a threat to America, Liddy or Ayers?  5/5/2008 Reason Online: "What McCain didn't mention is that he has his own Bill Ayers—in the form of G. Gordon Liddy. Now a conservative radio talk show host, Liddy spent more than four years in prison for his role in the 1972 Watergate burglary. That was just one element of what Liddy did, and proposed to do, in a secret White House effort to subvert the Constitution. Far from repudiating him, McCain has embraced him. How close are McCain and Liddy? At least as close as Obama and Ayers appear to be. In 1998, Liddy's home was the site of a McCain fundraiser. Over the years, he has made at least four contributions totaling $5,000 to the senator's campaigns—including $1,000 this year. Last November, McCain went on his radio show. Liddy greeted him as "an old friend," and McCain sounded like one. "I'm proud of you, I'm proud of your family," he gushed. "It's always a pleasure for me to come on your program, Gordon, and congratulations on your continued success and adherence to the principles and philosophies that keep our nation great."

Sunday 5/4/2008

The All-White Elephant in the Room  5/4/2008 NYT: "BORED by those endless replays of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright? If so, go directly to YouTube, search for “John Hagee Roman Church Hitler,” and be recharged by a fresh jolt of clerical jive. What you’ll find is a white televangelist, the Rev. John Hagee, lecturing in front of an enormous diorama. Wielding a pointer, he pokes at the image of a woman with Pamela Anderson-sized breasts, her hand raising a golden chalice. The woman is “the Great Whore,” Mr. Hagee explains, and she is drinking “the blood of the Jewish people.” That’s because the Great Whore represents “the Roman Church,” which, in his view, has thirsted for Jewish blood throughout history, from the Crusades to the Holocaust. Mr. Hagee is not a fringe kook but the pastor of a Texas megachurch. On Feb. 27, he stood with John McCain and endorsed him over the religious conservatives’ favorite, Mike Huckabee, who was then still in the race."

Friday 5/2/2008

Questioner Dragged Out Of McCain Town Hall Talks To OffTheBus  5/2/2008 Huffington Post: "This question goes to mental health and mental health care. Previously, I've been married to a woman that was verbally abusive to me. Is it true that you called your wife a cunt?"

Wednesday 4/30/2008

McCain Endorser Pastor John Hagee: God Curse and Doom America  4/30/2008 Talk To Action: "As a nation, America is under the curse of God, even now." That ominous slam at America came from Pastor John Hagee, whose endorsement Republican presidential candidate John McCain sought, secured, and recently affirmed to ABC News that he is "glad to have." Hagee claims God's "curse" and "doom" is upon America because of two key issues: reproductive freedom and broad support for the teaching of the theory of evolution."

Saturday 4/19/2008

"Hero" John McCain as Phony and Collaborator: What Really Happened When He Was a POW?  4/19/2008 Counterpunch

Thursday 4/17/2008

Chief McCain Strategist Went To Bat For Convicted Felon  4/17/2008 Huffington Post

Wednesday 4/9/2008

The Keating Five Legacy  4/9/2008 Campaign for America's Future

Tuesday 4/8/2008

McCain ties with Arizona blacks strained  4/8/2008 Politico: "But the widespread perception of activists in the state’s traditional civil rights organizations and the African-American press is that McCain has consistently treated them with indifference. He had few if any important relationships with these usually Democratic-leaning institutional pillars. The main reason, say leaders of these groups, was that McCain never demonstrated much interest in building them."

Saturday 3/29/2008

The Top Ten Craziest Things John McCain Has Said While You Weren't Watching  3/29/2008 Alternet

Thursday 3/20/2008

McCain London fundraiser raises issues about illegal foreign donations  3/20/2008 Wayne Madsen Report

Wednesday 3/19/2008

Obama and McCain in crossfire over Iraq  3/19/2008 Reuters: "At a news conference in Amman, McCain said Iran supported the Sunni group al Qaeda in Iraq, until he was corrected by a colleague. U.S. officials believe predominantly Shi'ite Iran has been backing Shi'ite extremists in Iraq, not al Qaeda in Iraq, a Sunni group. It was the first stumble of note that McCain has made since clinching the Republican presidential nomination early this month, and Obama quickly pounced on it. "Just yesterday, we heard Senator McCain confuse Sunni and Shi'ite, Iran and al Qaeda," Obama said. "Maybe that is why he voted to go to war with a country that had no al Qaeda ties. Maybe that is why he completely fails to understand that the war in Iraq has done more to embolden America's enemies than any strategic choice that we have made in decades," the Illinois senator said."

Friday 3/14/2008

Media Hold McCain, Obama to Different Standards  3/14/2008 FAIR: "Likewise, both Obama and McCain have been endorsed by religious figures with a history of intolerant statements--Obama by Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, who called Judaism a "gutter religion," and McCain by John Hagee, who has called Roman Catholicism a "false cult system," an "apostate church" and a "Great Whore." Hagee has also stated (NPR Fresh Air, 9/18/06) that the Quran mandates Muslims to kill Christians and Jews, and has blamed Hurricane Katrina on a New Orleans gay pride parade. So far this year, U.S. media have found Farrakhan's Obama endorsement much more interesting than Hagee's McCain endorsement: The Nexis file had 478 stories on Obama and Farrakhan, 123 on McCain and Hagee."

Wednesday 3/12/2008

McCain's Spiritual Guide: Destroy Islam  3/12/2008 Mother Jones

Tuesday 3/11/2008

McCain Advisers Lobbied for Airbus  3/11/2008 AP

Monday 3/10/2008

FLASHBACK: McCain Called Chalabi ‘A Patriot’ With Iraq’s ‘Best Interests At Heart’  3/10/2008 Think Progress

Sunday 3/9/2008

Alcohol industry ties may test McCain  3/9/2008 Boston Globe: "The alcohol lobby is one of the most influential in Washington. Although McCain has recused himself on alcohol issues, he has not refused the industry's money. Out of all candidates for all federal offices in 2008 - the White House, Senate, and House - McCain has received more alcohol industry money than all but two. The top recipient was Senator Hillary Clinton of New York, with $210,750, followed by former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani with $186,725 and McCain with $152,725, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. In addition, the analysis showed that McCain was the top recipient among federal candidates of money from Anheuser-Busch, the company that supplies beer to his wife's firm, providing $15,200."

Friday 3/7/2008

McCain Loses Cool With NYT Reporter  3/7/2008 Huffington Post: Senator Hothead at work - "Republican Sen. John McCain, showing a flash of the temper he is known for, repeatedly cut off a reporter Friday when asked whether he had spoken to Democratic Sen. John Kerry about being his vice president in 2004. "Everybody knows that I had a private conversation. Everybody knows that, that I had a conversation," McCain told the reporter. "And you know it, too. No. You know it, too. No. You do know. You do know.""

Saturday 3/1/2008

McCain seeks distance from pastor  3/1/2008 AP: "The Catholic League and Catholics United called on McCain to reject the endorsement. "By publicly addressing this issue, you will reaffirm to the American public and to Catholics that intolerance and bigotry have no place in American presidential campaigns," Chris Korzen, executive director of Catholics United, wrote McCain in a letter sent Thursday. McCain's response to the two days of criticism stood in contrast to his rapid denunciation of a radio talk show host who denigrated Barack Obama, repeatedly using Obama's middle name, Hussein, and calling him a "hack, Chicago-style" politician."

Wednesday 2/27/2008

John McCain's Sweet Ride - Lobbyist's Plane Flew Saudi Royals After 9/11  2/27/2008 Mad Cow Morning News: "The lavishly-furnished custom Boeing 727 airliner (727PX) which ferried Senator John McCain on four occasions during his Presidential run in 2000 also flew Saudi Royals out of the U.S. right after 9/11, carrying an entourage of Saudi Royals from Las Vegas to London six days after the 9/11 attack in a controversial operation later scrutinized by the 9/11 Commission. The 727 figures in the current tempest over his relationship with female lobbyist Vicki Iseman, who provided and flew with McCain on the plane. With hundreds of air charter companies and airliners to choose from, the Saudis chose a company that owns “Worship Ministries” and Christian Network, Inc., turning to Paxson Communications, a “Christian broadcaster” which owned the plane, to make its corporate jet available to spirit the Saudi princes and their entourage out of the U.S. six days after 9/11."

Monday 2/25/2008

McCain Says He Could Lose Over War Issue  2/25/2008 AP

Sunday 2/24/2008

John McCain’s denials start to unravel in tale of the blonde lobbyist  2/24/2008 London Times: "But when the Arizona senator reached for the lawyer who steered Bill Clinton through his women troubles, it was a sign that he was seriously rattled."

Saturday 2/23/2008

A Hole in McCain’s Defense? An apparent contradiction in his response to lobbyist story.  2/23/2008 Newsweek: "A sworn deposition that Sen. John McCain gave in a lawsuit more than five years ago appears to contradict one part of a sweeping denial that his campaign issued this week to rebut a New York Times story about his ties to a Washington lobbyist."

My friends" with John McCain... starring Vicki Iseman!  2/23/2008 The Real McCain: "You said "I'm the only one the special interests don't give any money to." Yet you have 59 lobbyists raising money for your campaign! "

McCain Disputed On 1999 Meeting - Broadcaster Recalls Urging FCC Contact  2/23/2008 WaPo

Friday 2/22/2008

Jack Abramoff: John McCain’s other Lobbyist problem...  2/22/2008 Daily Kos: "These documents and many, many more were turned over to McCain. When the dust settled McCain had 750,000 pages of documents. He had everything. He had Jack’s Little Black Book as it were. He had the goods on Jack and everybody who ever worked with Jack. It was easy to leak details to the press to drive the story in whatever direction McCain wanted the narrative to take. It was easy for McCain to let the folks who took him down in 2000 know that payback time was on the horizon… As the details of the scandal emerged it quickly became clear that this was bigger web of corruption than anybody thought (well except me, I had been following Jack for year by 2004—and I knew it was and is a massive scandal). It quickly became apparent that the Abramoff scandal—if fully investigated—would defeat George W. Bush in 2004 and throw Republicans out of power in the House and Senate. By mid 2004, McCain was slow-walking his "investigation". After Bush was re-elected it picked up a little steam in 2005 but went dark again as the 2006 election approached. Finally, with little fanfare, McCain’s committee released a report of their investigation in July 2006. The investigation had been slow-walked into a cover-up. Still, McCain took parting shots at Reed, Norquist and Abramoff."

Rick Renzi Indicted: McCain Co-Chair Hit For Fraud, Extortion  2/22/2008 Huffington Post: "Republican Rep. Rick Renzi (REN-zee) has been indicted for extortion, wire fraud, money laundering and other charges related to a land deal in Arizona. A 26-page federal indictment unsealed in Arizona accuses Renzi and two former business partners of conspiring to promote the sale of land that buyers could swap for property owned by the federal government. The sale netted one of Renzi's former partners $4.5 million. Renzi is a three-term member of the House. He announced in August that he would not seek re-election."

Thursday 2/21/2008

Did Vicki Iseman “Steal Honor” in THREE Presidential Elections?  2/21/2008 EmptyWheel: "For the moment, though, I'm more interested in the 2004 election--the one McCain didn't run in. You see, I find it a mighty curious coincidence that two of the companies for which Iseman was lobbying John McCain in 1999 and 2000--the time of their potentially inappropriate relationship--also happen to be the two television companies that championed the Kerry smear, "Stolen Honor," in 2004."

For McCain, Self-Confidence on Ethics Poses Its Own Risk  2/21/2008 NYT

Timing, Sourcing Suggest GOP, Not Dems, Behind McCain ‘Smear Campaign’  2/21/2008 Pensito Review: "The source of the story was most likely one of McCain’s rivals. Judging by their actions, almost all of them could be eliminated except for Mitt Romney, who, as has been noted here and elsewhere, made a big show of “suspending,” not ending his campaign. (Campaigns are often technically “suspended” when they close in order to keep payroll and accounting functions open but the difference here is how Romney stressed the word “suspended” in his concession, and how that keyword was picked up and repeated over and over by Beltway pundits and newsreaders — all of whom have known about this story since before Christmas.) The possibility that Romney’s mitts were all over this might explain McCain’s palpable antipathy toward him. The Huckabee campaign has known about the story, too, which explains Huckabee’s insistence on staying in, despite the dead-certain odds he’ll never get the delegates to beat McCain at the convention. Huckabee has said he’s sticking around in case McCain has a “macaca moment.”"

Wednesday 2/20/2008

John McCain, Vicki Iseman: Who Is Vicki Iseman?  2/20/2008 Death by 1000 paper cuts: has original material on Iseman now missing from her company web site.

Monday 2/11/2008

What Dems Need to Know About John McCain  2/11/2008 Alternet: "A former GOP operative gives the background on what it will take to compete with the likely GOP nominee."

Thursday 2/7/2008

Four more American drug planes seized  2/7/2008 Mad Cow: "The Republican connection begins with the statement in court filings that the money to purchase the planes was laundered through a bank which is almost invariably described as “fast-growing” in admiring business news articles. The drug money was wired, usually from Mexico, to an account at Commerce Bank in Miami, whose Chairman, Dennis Nixon, is the South Texas Co-chair of John McCain’s campaign. Nixon was also a Bush Pioneer and Ranger in George W. Bush’s two Presidential campaigns, raising $300,000 in one night for Bush’s re-election bid in Texas border town Laredo. High-profile Texas businessman Dennis Nixon's bank is even— in one of the sales—involved on both ends. Money was wired from Mexico, first to an account at Commerce Bank in Miami, then on to International Bank of Commerce (IBC) in Oklahoma to complete the sale. Dennis Nixon's International Bancshares of San Antonio owns both banks."

Tuesday 2/5/2008

McCain's past makes him a Neocon puppet  2/5/2008 Wayne Madsen Report: "Why is John McCain so supportive of Bush and Cheney after being so viciously attacked by them in the 2000 campaign? The answer to this question may partially rest in Navy records detailing the events that took place on the USS Forrestal in 'Yankee Station' in the Gulf of Tonkin at the end of July 1967. The neo-cons, who have had five years to examine every file within the Department of Defense, have likely accessed documents that could prove embarrassing to McCain, who was on board the USS Forrestal on July 29, 1967, and whose A-4 Skyhawk was struck by an air-to-ground Zuni missile that had misfired from an F-4 Phantom… WMR has been informed that crewmen aboard the Forrestal have provided additional information about the Forrestal incident. It is believed by many crewmen and those who have investigated the case that McCain deliberately 'wet-started' his A-4E to shake up the guy in the plane behind his A-4. 'Wet-starts', done either deliberately or accidentally, shoot a large flame from the tail of the aircraft. In McCain's case, the 'wet-start' apparently 'cooked off' and launched the Zuni rocket from the rear F-4 that touched off the explosions and massive fire. The F-4 pilot was reportedly killed in the conflagration. 'Wet starting' was apparently a common practice among young 'hot-dog' pilots. McCain was quickly transferred to the USS Oriskany (the only Forrestal crewman to be immediately transferred). After the disaster, McCain was shot down over North Vietnam on October 26, 1967."

Sunday 2/3/2008

Haunted By Spirits  2/3/2008 Phoenix New Times: published 2/17/00 - "John McCain derived his wealth from his marriage to Cindy Hensley McCain, whose father started his road to riches as a bootlegger. As a politician, the senator has remained beholden to the liquor industry and the family business."

Tuesday 1/29/2008

Ha'aretz Rates the Candidates  1/29/2008 AntiWar: "Some critics of Middle Eastern policy have been hopeful that Barack Obama, who has less baggage on the issue than the other candidates, might approach the Israel-Palestine conundrum with a more open mind. Such hopes are fleeting, as Obama has adopted an increasingly strident pro-Israel line to make himself more electable. This line was apparently crafted by his key adviser on the region, Dennis Ross, a former State Department official who was the key negotiator between Palestinians and Israelis under President Bill Clinton. Ross has invariably tilted in the Israeli direction by defining most regional problems in terms of Israeli security concerns. When he is not advising Obama, Ross is now a "distinguished fellow" at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP), the strongly pro-Israeli Washington think tank that was founded by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). He is also a Middle East analyst for Fox News… At the bottom of the heap? Yes, it's Barack Obama with a 5. He has tried to demonstrate that he is true blue when it comes to Israel by manfully supporting last year's invasion of Lebanon, which killed more than 1,000 civilians and caused billions of dollars worth of damage: "I don't think there is any nation that would not have reacted the way Israel did after two soldiers had been snatched. I support Israel's response to take some action in protecting themselves." I suppose that, In spite of the bad grammar, that came off a bit too eggheaded, not to mention mealy-mouthed. Obama lived for a while in Indonesia, which is known to be overrun with Muslims. He could himself be some kind of crypto-Islamofascist, and a few years ago he had some nice things to say about Palestinians. You lose, Barack."

Monday 1/28/2008

McCain win would mean war with Iran  1/28/2008 Global Research: "There's no doubt John McCain is going to be a war president. ... His whole career is wrapped up in the military, national security. He's in Putin's face, he's threatening the Iranians, we're going to be in Iraq a hundred years." "So when he says more war," Scarborough commented, "he is promising you, if he gets in the White House, we'll not only be fighting this war but starting new wars. Is that what conservative Republicans want? "I don't say he's starting them," Buchanan answered. "He expects more wars. ... I think he's talking straight, because if you take a look at the McCain foreign policy, he is in everybody's face. Did you see Thad Cochran's comment when he endorsed Romney? He said, look, John McCain is a bellicose, red-faced, angry guy, who constantly explodes."

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