-Caveat Lector-
Begin forwarded message:
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: January 29, 2007 5:54:20 PM PST
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Mad Dog McCain
Destruction of the Myth of John McCain
[VIDEO] http://www.alternet.org/blogs/video/47350/
Posted by Evan Derkacz at 7:20 PM on January 28, 2007.
Think you know John McCain? A new video lays bare what we've always
suspected.
Brave New Films put together this devastating film on "Straight
Talkin'" John McCain's whack-a-mole positions regarding Iraq, gay
marriage, and the Christian Right as the champagne smash across the
bow of a new website, therealmccain.com.
One of the virgin blogs on the site includes a link to Sidney
Blumenthal's chronicle of the destruction of the myth of John
McCain. It's called: The Myth of John McCain. Here's a key passage:
"McCain's political colleagues, however, know another side of the
action hero -- a volatile man with a hair-trigger temper, who
shouted at Senator Ted Kennedy on the Senate floor to "shut up",
and called fellow Republican senators "shithead ... fucking
jerk ... asshole". A few months ago, McCain suddenly rushed up to a
friend of mine, a prominent Washington lawyer, at a social event,
and threatened to beat him up because he represented a client
McCain happened to dislike. Then, just as suddenly, profusely and
tearfully, he apologised."
So much for the Republican that the media believes has crossover
appeal.
Evan Derkacz is an AlterNet editor. He writes and edits PEEK, the
blog of blogs.
---------------
The myth of McCain
Once the presumptive next US president, the Republican
frontrunner's popularity has nose dived
Sidney Blumenthal
January 27, 2007, The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,1999819,00.html
When Senator John McCain appeared at the Conservative party
conference in Bournemouth last October as the presumptive next
president of the US, the stars seemed fixed in the firmament for
him. The myth of McCain appeared as invincible as ever.
His war story -- a bomber pilot shot down over North Vietnam in
1967, held prisoner for five years and tortured -- is the basis of
his legend as morally courageous, authentic, unwavering in his
convictions, an independent reformer willing to take on the
reactionaries of his own party, an "American maverick" as he calls
himself in his campaign autobiography.
The titles of his books reflect the image: Character Is Destiny,
Why Courage Matters, and Faith of My Fathers. Defeat at the hands
of George Bush in the battle for the Republican nomination in 2000,
in which he was subjected to dirty tricks, completed his
canonisation. The press corps so venerated him that he called them
"my base".
McCain's political colleagues, however, know another side of the
action hero - a volatile man with a hair-trigger temper, who
shouted at Senator Ted Kennedy on the Senate floor to "shut up",
and called fellow Republican senators "shithead ... fucking
jerk ... asshole". A few months ago, McCain suddenly rushed up to a
friend of mine, a prominent Washington lawyer, at a social event,
and threatened to beat him up because he represented a client
McCain happened to dislike. Then, just as suddenly, profusely and
tearfully, he apologised.
Many Republicans who have had dealings with McCain distrust him
(not just conservatives but traditional Republican moderates too).
While taking rightwing positions on social issues such as abortion
and gay marriage, his simmering resentment of Bush led him
virtually to caucus with the Democrats in early 2001 (before
September 11). Then, abruptly, he rushed to embrace Bush.
McCain's political advisers believe that he would easily be elected
president in 2008, but fear that he might not capture the
nomination. In 2000 he did not win a primary state where the voting
was restricted to Republicans. So McCain decided to let the
election take care of itself as he won over the party faithful. He
campaigned enthusiastically for Bush in 2004. He sought to
reconcile with the religious right, whose leaders he had called
"agents of intolerance" in 2000.
McCain had belatedly taken the lead in opposing Bush's torture
policy, an issue that could not be more personal for him. But after
the supreme court last year declared Bush's secret tribunals for
detainees and use of extreme interrogation techniques illegal, the
president sought congressional approval of his version. At first,
McCain fought Bush, but the right attacked him. McCain quickly
capitulated, even agreeing to suspension of habeas corpus. Someone
close to him explained to me that McCain calculated he could
continue to play the issue when he became chairman of the Senate
armed services committee in the next Congress. Asked about the
chance that the Democrats might take control, McCain declared: "I
think I'd just commit suicide."
As the neoconservatives abandoned Bush's sinking ship, McCain
welcomed them aboard. "McCain began reading the Weekly Standard and
conferring with its editors, particularly Bill Kristol," the New
Republic magazine reported. And he hired a board member of the
neocon Project for the New American Century, Randy Scheunemann, as
his foreign-policy aide.
McCain positioned himself as consistently belligerent, even to
Bush's right: in favour of bombing Iran and North Korea. He also
proposed a "surge" of troops into Iraq, an idea gleaned from the
neocons. If Bush had adopted the Iraq Study Group approach of
diplomacy and redeployment, which McCain had assailed as
"dispiriting", the right would have hailed McCain as a prophet with
honour. However, importuned by the same neocons who had sold it to
McCain, Bush seized upon the "surge".
McCain had trapped himself. He is now chained to Bush. As Bush's
war has escalated, McCain's popularity has nose dived. Still the
frontrunner for the Republican nomination, he might have made
himself more acceptable to the base, but his political strategy has
shattered his myth. Bearing the burden of Bush, he may have become
unelectable.
· Sidney Blumenthal, a former senior adviser to President Clinton,
is the author of How Bush Rules
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
ODonnell, January 29, 2007 09:12 AM
I have followed McCain since the early 1990's and he use to be a
"real conservative." Along with Sen Phil Graham he did fine work in
stopping "Hillary-Care."
But things changed drastically in about 1998** and he turned a
180. Why? I investigated and found that his war record was a sham
-- he was actually a collaborator with the NV and was given
"special" treatment.
If you think I am making this up, ask Rep Sam Johnson (R TX), who
hates him, and was in the same prison camp at the same time as
McCain. Rep Johnson, who was actually tortured as shown by his
crippled fingers, knows ALL about the "hero."
So why the change? I don't know for sure, but suspect he was
"turned" by information of his real war record, by people in the
Clinton administration. This is just a guess on my part.
Jim ODonnell
----------------------
http://www.usvetdsp.com/story47.htm
**It is 1997 ... the 105th Congress. [Republican] Congressman
Stephen Buyer ... demonstrates no interest in continuing public
hearings or discussing the POW/MIA issue. ... The ranking Democrats
on the Committee also demonstrate no interest in following-up
the ... open questions on the fates of missing Americans that a
recalcitrant State Department and Intelligence bureaucracy refuse
to answer.
Currently, without Military Personnel Subcommittee action, a small
group of Congressmen from various Committees, including Congressmen
Ben Gilman of New York, James Talent of Missouri, [former POW] Sam
Johnson of Texas, and Senators Bob Smith of New Hampshire and Ben
Nighthorse Campbell of Colorado are making a valiant effort to pry
answers from an obstinate Clinton Administration bureaucracy.
Congressmen Ben Gilman, Jim Talent, Gerry Solomon, [former POW] Sam
Johnson, Lee Hamilton and Paul McHale have resubmitted the,
"Missing Persons Protection Act." This important legislation would
reinstate important provisions of the 1996 Missing Persons Act,
including the requirements for credible forensic evidence to
identify [POW/MIA] remains ... The Congressmen expect a difficult
battle in gaining support from the Senate because of the vitriolic
obstructions of Senator John McCain.
----------------------
How Tough Do You Have To Be to Be President?
http://mb.sparknotes.com/mb.epl?b=2436&m=1120721&p=3&t=319275&w=1
According to John McCain III, after surviving a fire aboard the USS
Forestal, he volunteered for the USS Oriskiny (McCain 180-181),
where as a fighter pilot, he flew 22 bombing runs over Vietnam.
Just before leaving on his 23rd bombing run (184), the USS
Oriskiny's strike operations officer, Lew Chatham told McCain to be
careful. McCain wrote "I told him not to worry about me, that I was
sure I would not be killed. I didn't know at the time that downed
pilots imprisoned in the North referred to their shootdowns as the
day they were "killed"(187). He was superstitious in nature, so he
prepared for his mission with the same rituals, in the same order,
as all his previous missions (177). Anne Groer's article stated
that, as 31-year-old naval aviator, that the course of McCain's
life would be forever changed on October 26, 1967. During the five
and a half years in captivity, McCain was tortured and isolated by
the Vietnamese (Groer 1). The events that took place in Hanoi
molded his future career choice into politics.
McCain was born on August 29, 1936 in the Panama Canal Zone, where
his father served in the U.S. Navy. McCain's father served as a
World War II submarine commander, and his grandfather commanded the
strongest aircraft carrier fleet (2). McCain as a child had an
incorrigible temper -- when provoked, he'd hold his breath until
he'd pass out. A Navy physician advised his parents that whenever
this occurred, to run a cold bath and throw young McCain in, fully
clothed. According to his mother, Roberta Wright McCain this
eventually cured him (McCain 99-100). McCain's stubbornness would
prove beneficial in his upcoming education and for the trials that
would encompass his future.
McCain graduated from Episcopal High School in Alexandria, Virginia
in 1954, where he was an incorrigible rule breaker nicknamed
"McNasty" and "Punk". McCain attended the U.S. Naval Academy in
Annapolis, Maryland, where his grandfather and father, both of whom
were four-star admirals had also graduated. In the U.S. Naval
Academy, McCain became known as "John Wayne McCain," the skirt-
chasing leader of a roguish band that called itself "The Bad
Bunch" (Groer 2). According to Paul Alexander, author of John
McCain's biography, McCain was academically challenged, and managed
out of the 894 midshipmen graduating, to finish fifth from the
bottom (Alexander 31).
McCain married a woman named Carol Shepp on July 3, 1965. He had
met her before in Annapolis, and then reconnected with her while in
flight school in Corpus Christi, Texas. McCain adopted her two sons
from a previous marriage and later had a daughter named Sidney
(32-33).
During McCain's early military years, he served on the USS
Enterprise and the USS Intrepid. Assigned to the USS Enterprise,
McCain's squadron headed for Cuba. This was to be McCain's first
mission, but before he could engage in any combat, the crisis was
peacefully resolved (McCain 161). Nine months after leaving his
squadron, McCain served on the staff of the Chief of Air Basic
Training in Pensacola (167). At the end of 1966, McCain received
his orders to join a squadron aboard the USS Forestal (173). On
July 29, 1967, in the Tonkin Gulf, just before McCain's A-4 Skyhawk
was to take off, a Zuni missile struck the belly fuel tank of his
plane, igniting two hundred gallons of fuel. He managed to climb
out onto the nose of his plane and jump ten feet into a wall of
fire. The fires were extinguished but not before 134 men were
killed (178-179). Twice now, McCain had been deprived of combat
experience. Shortly after the fire, an officer from the carrier USS
Oriskiny addressed McCain's squadron requesting volunteers for
combat duty. McCain reported for duty on September 30, 1967 to the
USS Oriskiny and joined the VA-163---an A-4 attack squadron
nicknamed the "Saints" (180-182). He had flown 22 bombing runs over
Vietnam and prepared for his 23rd run on October 26, 1967 (184).
His target was to be a thermal power plant in Hanoi, Vietnam
(Alexander 45). While attempting unsuccessfully to bomb a thermal
power plant in Hanoi, Navy pilot John McCain's A4C Skyhawk was shot
down by a Surface to Air Missile. After releasing the bombs, McCain
pulled back the stick to climb; in that instance a missile took off
his right wing sending his plane swirling to the earth. According
to the Navy, he was "killed" (188). McCain was knocked unconscious
by the force when he ejected from his plane. The ejection broke his
right knee, his left arm, and multiple breaks in his right arm
(Alexander 46).
McCain was pulled from the Truc Bach Lake by an angry crowd of
Vietnamese. The crowd stripped his clothes off and then beat and
kicked him. He looked down and saw that his right foot was resting
at a ninety-degree angle next to his left knee. McCain wrote that
he cried out "My God, my leg" and then someone smashed a rifle butt
into his shoulder, breaking it. Someone bayoneted his groin and
ankle before dragging him off to the prison called Hoa Lo, later
the POW's named it "the Hanoi Hilton" (McCain 190).
McCain was refused medical treatment until the Vietnamese found out
that he was an Admiral's son. McCain bargained with the camp
officer, called "Bug" that in exchange for medical treatment that
he'd give them information; so McCain recited the names of the
Green Bay Packers' offensive line, and said they were members of
his squadron (194). The commandant of the entire prison system, who
had been nicknamed "the Cat", refused the promised operations for
McCain's injuries because McCain didn't give the statements that he
was ordered to say (197-198). Regularly, McCain was beaten and
tortured severely. After three days of torture, McCain
unsuccessfully, tried to take his life by hanging himself with his
shirt. On the fourth day of torture, he signed a confession that
stated that he was a "war criminal" and an "air pirate" (243). The
Vietnamese hoped to embarrass McCain's father and their government
with the confession. To this day, McCain deeply regrets signing the
confession (Groer 2).
Very sick and injured, McCain was put into a cell with George 'Bud'
Day and Norris Overly. Because of Day's injuries, Overly bathed and
cared for McCain until he was strong again. Overly went home
against the Code of Conduct, McCain didn't begrudge him, Overly had
saved his life. The Code of Conduct obliged the POW's to refuse
release before those who had been captured earlier had been
released (McCain 203). McCain refused the offers on several
occasions to go home during his captivity (When the Vietnamese
observed that McCain could get around on crutches, they removed
Bud. McCain sick with dysentery and weighing around a hundred
pounds lived in solitary for most of two years (205). McCain
hollered insults at the guards to resist depression; soon it became
a morale booster (207). McCain was transferred to a place called
the Plantation, where he met a gentler interrogator that he called
"Soft Soap"; he would always apologize to McCain if another
interrogator roughed him up too much (224). It was during solitary,
that McCain had learned the Tap Code.
Lance Morrow and Ellin Martens wrote that the prisoners survived on
two codes--- the tap code, and the honor code. The tap code was a
form of communication used by tapping out messages on the wall. One
prisoner stated that they sounded like a den of runaway
woodpeckers. The North Vietnamese never mastered the code; the
alphabet was laid out on a simple 5-by-5 grid (omitting K, for
which C was used). They tapped first the line, then the letter in
that line. The code flowed so fluently that the men told one
another jokes; kicks on the wall meant a laugh. Every Sunday, at a
coded signal, the men stood and recited the Lord's Prayer and the
Pledge of Allegiance (Morrow 2). This code helped warn other POW's
of new orders and what the Vietnamese wanted (McCain 225). McCain
felt that his father's rank gave him value as a potential
propaganda opportunity and thus restrained his captors from killing
him (McCain 226). The punishment of communicating was severe, but
it didn't stop the prisoners; they needed to rejoin the living
again (212).
McCain developed several close friendships in the time he spent as
a prisoner; McCain spoke frequently with them via the tap code or
by talking through a cup against the wall. He mentions them
throughout his book "Faith of My Fathers", including George "Bud"
Day, Norris Overly, Ernie Brace, John Finley, Orson Swindle, and
Bob Craner. The friendships with these men aided in McCain's
survival and sanity. McCain remains in contact with Bud and Orson
often, his good friend Bob died of a heart attack in 1981(344).
McCain had been transferred to Camp Unity with two of his old
friends, including Bob Craner and his first roommate, Bud Day. Also
there were some of the toughest men in prison: Jerry Denton, Jim
Stockdale, Robbie Risner, Dick Stratton, George Coker, Jack
Fellowes, John Dramesi, Bill Lawrence, Jim Kasler, Larry Guarino,
Sam Johnson, Howie Dunn, George McKnight, Jerry Coffee, Ted Guy,
and Howie Rutledge, all legendary registers, these men inspired him
to be rebellious (331-314).
On March 15, 1973, prisoners were released in the order they were
captured (341). McCain's father was invited to the welcoming
ceremony; he declined because no other parents of POW's had been
invited (342). As happy as McCain was to be going home, he was
saddened to say farewell to his closest friends, Bud Day, Bob
Craner, and Orson Swindle. He felt as if they were brothers born to
the same parents (344).
Shortly after returning home, he and Carol divorced (Groer 2). Six
weeks after his divorce McCain married Cindy Hensley of Phoenix
(Alexander 93). He then retired from the Navy in 1981, and then
moved to Phoenix to work for his father-n-law's beer distribution
company (Groer 2). McCain and his wife later adopted four more
children (3).
McCain decided to go into politics after going to Washington to be
the navy's liaison officer to the Senate. His goal as a politician
was to ensure that the POW's that remained in Vietnam were brought
home. (Alexander 94). When McCain decided to run for the House of
Representatives; he won the election in both 1984 and 1986
(Groer3). In 1987, McCain was elected as the Republican Senator of
Arizona. (Alexander 105). McCain worked on several bills, including
one that would regulate campaign spending. A version of this bill
was passed in 2002; George W. Bush was not in favor of it. It is
customarily to give the pen used to sign the bill as a token of
that signing during a Rose Garden ceremony. Disrespectfully, Bush
had a midlevel staffer at the White House call McCain to inform him
that the bill had been signed. McCain was furious at the way Bush
handled the signing. He decided to handle Bush's snub with humor by
saying to the reporters that Bush didn't promise him a rose garden
(2-3). McCain relied heavily on his POW experiences to help sway
the voters (Carney 1). During McCain's campaign for presidential
nomination in 2000, a group of Republican senators implied that due
to McCain's five and half years as a POW, that he had been damaged
mentally, making him unstable to be president (McCain 205). McCain
responded by giving the Associated Press three three-inch-thick
binders containing hundreds of pages of his medical records,
including letters from his physician stating the McCain was both
physically and mentally sound (208). McCain told a crowd during his
campaigning, "If you are going to be the commander-in-chief of the
armed services and put your men and women in harm's way, you
yourself should have been in harm's way" (233). James Carney
disagreed with McCain's statement; he felt that being a former POW
wasn't an indicator of presidential excellence. He felt that
General Douglas MacArthur would have made a terrible president,
even with all his military accomplishments and Abraham Lincoln,
with no military experience made a great president (Carney 1).
As a successful politician, McCain has had several books published
relating both his military career and his political career. One of
my favorite heartening quotes from McCain's autobiography "Faith of
My Fathers" is, "Nothing in life is more liberating than to fight
for a cause larger than yourself, something that encompasses you
but is not defined by your existence alone" (348). Some believe
that his captivity in Vietnam had no influences on his decision for
a political career and that he used his captivity to gain respect
and sympathy among the voters. Many feel that his successes were
largely due to his family status and friendships with other
politicians, friends in high places.
I say that if he is a good politician, time will tell. What do I
care what motivated him.
-----------------------
http://web.archive.org/web/20001120112000/home.stlnet.com/
~cdstelzer/bolles.html
Profits from illicit alcohol sales during Prohibition helped
establish a new multi-ethnic criminal cartel in the U.S. After
repeal in 1933, the same crime groups began financing the nascent
casino industry in Las Vegas, and dominating other rackets
throughout the Southwest, often with the paid cooperation of local
politicians and law enforcement authorities.
Beginning in 1946, Licavoli, the Arizona mob boss, operated an
illegal gambling wire service with Kemper Marley Sr., the
wealthiest liquor distributor in the state. Later, Marley's United
Liquor Co. supplied Emprise dog tracks with 10 percent of their
alcoholic beverages. During the 1974 Arizona gubernatorial race,
Marley was the biggest contributor to Gov. Raul Castro's campaign.
After the election, the Castro administration appointed Marley to
the state racing commission, but he was forced to resign due to
adverse publicity ...
McCain, the Mafia and the Savings & Loan Scandal
http://tiodt.blogspot.com/2006/12/married-to-mob.html
<snip>
In 1982, McCain decided to run for Congress. That takes some quick
money, and McCain had access to it-- thanks to his father in law
(whose employees at his liquor distributorship were 'persuaded' to
donate thousands of dollars to McCain), and one of Hensley's
friends, Charles Keating of the Lincoln S&L (I won't get into the
Lincoln S&L scandal here because it is pretty well known by now
that McCain was one of the 'Keating Five.') To seal the deal with
Jim Hensley and [daughter] Cindy Hensley [McCain's wife] invested
$359,100 in one of Keating's projects.
When McCain first ran for the Senate, in 1986, even Kemper Marley,
through his son Kemper Jr. (who was now running United Liquor --
Marley himself had become politically radioactive) donated money to
him.
It has been said that the Mafia never really left, they have just
moved upscale. That is certainly the case in Las Vegas, where the
casinos are corporations and run in a businesslike manner (so a
Bugsy Siegel would be an anachronism, but I'm also not sure I'd
want to make an enemy out of some of the folks who have those
offices on the top floor.) The original Cosa Nostra may have been
largely broken up, but the remnants of the Mafia are still around,
mostly in fat family bank accounts and people they have helped push
into positions of power, and John McCain is privvy to one and is
the other.
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