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That sucking sound is the Republican Party's soul vanishing down the drain.

Whatever soul it had.

Trump has drained the swamp so even the old reliable creatures have no place to go any longer. Even John McCain.

Once a Trump Target, John McCain Now Finds Their Political Fates Intertwined

Even I am saddened at this.

One wants to have a loyal opposition and now that is going the way of the garish, the superficial and the boor-dom of the Donald aura.

It is too bad. A sad end for an old man.

Not to say that he should have quit before all this came about but what else could he do? It is the one thing, the only thing he has.

Trump has attacked McCain. Mocked his war record. The draft dodger ascendant. It is a bitter pill to swallow.

Labels: GOoPers, McCain

The Iraq thing is never done.

Obama is bombing the north. And, the war continues at home from the usual quarters.

McCain Says Limited U.S. Strikes on Militants in Iraq Are Not Enough

John McCain has never met a war he didn't like. Seething is his default position. He lies in wait for opportunities to bang the drum.

In actual fact, I think that McCain is still festering over the fact that he was spurned in his run for President.

His campaign will never end.

He does not, evidently, see himself as a sore loser or a whiner. But he comes across that way.

It is hard to imagine a McCain presidency let alone two of them.

I am sure that he is too old to run again in '16 but that hasn't kept him down before.

The funny thing is that I actually like the guy. He has funny asides and somehow doesn't take himself all that seriously. But he is a dog with a bone on anything involving troops. It is his playing card. Being a POW has never left him. His bitterness over it is tangible.

He is still the guy in the picture.

As he seeks an opportune target for his shit, he finds the perfect target in Obama. Twice beaten by him, he is legitimized by the rivalry.

Besides, it keeps his name in the papers. An otherwise irrelevant old man. Just happens to have a history.

Labels: Iraq, McCain

BUDDIES

Having said what I said just below about John McCain, I should also point to this. Obama's Newest Ally John McCain

After four years of back and forth spatting, I have recently seen how McCain is spending more time at the White House and has also spoken out on issues that he and Obama share an interest in. Gun control. Immigration. Leak detection.

It is an interesting turn about not without precedent in the past. Politics makes strange bedfellows.

The statesmen of the GOP are deeply embarrassed and chagrined at the way their party has been hijacked. In addition, the formal leadership, Boehner and McConnell are all but useless. Frozen in time and space by the factions in the Party. They are not very good leaders. They lack the talent. The knack.

I still don't like John McCain very well but if anyone can turn him into a useful ally it would be Obama.

Another thing about McCain is that somewhere inside there, the maverick is pacing back and forth ready to make a reappearance. The perverse streak that has pissed off more Republicans than Democrats is just below the surface.

Labels: Administration Obama, McCain

PASTURE

Labels: McCain

HRC HAS ENOUGH OF THEIR BULLSHIT

The GOoPers are still trying to make Benghazi a reason not to re-elect the President.

To be plain about it, they are simply being assholes for the sake of being assholes.

You may remember, if McCain and the others don't, that Obama was elected. It is over.

Of course, McCain is still fighting the 2008 Presidential Election.

Hillary tells them to fuck off.

Labels: Hillary Clinton, McCain, republican whack jobs

I WONDERED ABOUT THIS

He didn't forget Poland, but he skipped Afghanistan

Romney. Who wants to be our world leader. The Commander in Chief.

The trip to show us what he was made of.

Of course the whole thing was a fantasy production in the first place.

And it was an utter FAIL.

I have seen it posited that he went to burnish his Olympic credentials. The only part of his career so far that he is willing to talk about.

Well, we know how that all turned out.

Where is he with the war? What about the troops? What is his policy?

Jesus.

What I liked about McCain, the last time, is that he had balls. He had ideas. He took positions. He had a record that at least he was proud of.

This guy is, well, let's stop here. A disaster.

I googled images of "romney with troops". There are virtually no images available.

Labels: McCain, Romney

MCAIN TOURS ROMNEY AROUND ARIZONA TODAY

I wonder if they talked about any of this.

Arizona is now considered a possible Obama state. Too much twaddling with immigration and that awful whack job governor.

Too funny.

And McCain obviously relishes his lines.

Labels: McCain, republican whack jobs, Romney

THE INNER MAVERICK

John McCain deserves props today for stepping up to the plate on the resurgent torture question.

McCain Steps Up On Torture Question

Since OBM was killed, the arguments that torture had uncovered his whereabouts, his connections and every conceivable aspect of the case has been brought up by the wingnuts and even some establishment Repubs who know better.

McCain puts that all to rest as he reiterates his position that torture does not work and is wrong.

I frequently criticize the old man and even, in a way, despise him, but this is a good thing for him to do. After all, who knows better about torture? Well, who with some position of power knows? Not fucking Dick Cheney or his mouthpiece daughter.

I even put up a good picture of him.

Labels: McCain

CONVERSION

It is interesting to watch some of the anti-Obama people do some scrambling this week after the obvious success of his speech.

Steve Benen in Political Animal cites this example.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) writes for the Washington Post that he disagrees with many of the president's policies, but considers the president "a patriot sincerely intent on using his time in office to advance our country's cause." That couldn't have been easy for McCain.

Never in this world would he have been able to handle the trials of this Presidency or done as much to solve them and, beyond that, innovate to get passage of critical landmark legislation.

I just think that he is an old fart in need of some sun in Phoenix.

Labels: McCain

FLIP FLOP FLIP FLOP

You know, I used to have some marginal respect for John McCain. I could disagree with his positions but he seemed to be the real thing.

But now, some years later, things have changed. I hope it is him. I would hate to be so wrong in the earlier times.

It is no secret, now, that John McCain is a lying asshole who has draped himself in the flag and his war record through countless self serving exploits.

Only now is he shown to be the shameless hack that he has always been both as a hotdogging plane wrecking pilot to his present status as a sort of demented angry old man.

There is more but I will repress myself.

This, with two tapes, shows "Honest John" the "maverick" taking two or more positions on Don't Ask Don't Tell and a few other issues like immigration.

God save us if he had been elected. What a bastard.

A Well Deserved Humiliation for John McCain

Be sure to play the Jon Stewart PSA.

Labels: McCain

MCCAIN'S DOPEROO

General Petraeus fainted today while testifying on the Middle East situation.

PETRAEUS FALLS ILL, BUT IS REPORTEDLY FINE

I took a look at the tape.

It happened while John McCain was doing one of his mesmerizing reflections.

Shit.

I would pass out if I had to listen to that old fart go through his litany one more time.

The same thing happened when he was campaigning.

Labels: McCain

BAILOUT I

A little bit of campaign and, as it turns out, American history.

Out of the Bailout Bedlam, Obama Emerged on Top

On the famous meeting that McCain called to discuss the financial collapse at the White House. You know, the one where, once it was being held, McCain had nothing to say?

"From Barack Obama, after witnessing first hand John McCain's complete bewilderment over the financial implosion during a White House meeting shortly before the 2008 election:

'Maybe I shouldn't be president. But he definitely shouldn't be.' Roger that."

Labels: Barack Obama, McCain

LITTLE MAC

John McCain revived the 2008 campaign today and Obama reprimanded him for it.

He had nothing substantive about the content of health reform. It was all about process. Whining about process.

At the end Obama did a turn around the table. It was interesting to see McCain actually back up and move to the side to avoid shaking hands.

Prick.

Labels: McCain

OLD CAMPAIGN PHOTOS

I know the campaign is over and Lieberman is pretty much as big a memory as McCain but this was still a LOL moment.

Labels: McCain, republican whack jobs

PANDEJO

I had hoped that we had shelved John McCain but apparently not.

Aren't you glad this dumbass didn't get close to being elected. Matthew Rettenmund reports:

I always wonder, when I read about people who commit suicide by stabbing themselves to death, how it's possible to do such a thing. Wouldn't you chicken out before plunging the knife into your own chest? Wouldn't you stop after the first try?

Apparently not.

Consider John McCain's sober observation that as far as Republicans go, "On the issue of the Hispanic voter, we have to do a lot more...I am of the belief that unless we reverse the trend of Hispanic voter registration, we have a very, very deep hole that we've got to come out of."

Now consider that today he's decided to vote against Sonia Sotomayor.

You can look up "pandejo" in the slang dictionary.

Labels: McCain

WHICH WAY THE WIND BLOWS

I am impressed by this:

McCain Backs Obama's Iraq War Plan

There are going to be many issues where McCain agrees with Obama and they will exploit it.

McCain may be an old curmudgeon and still angry about the election but he is no fool. The wind is at Obama's back. Some of his GOP colleagues will resist and obstruct but I believe that by and large McCain will be there where he is needed and respected. And on this issue a lot of people respect his opinion, appropriately or not.

I will take it either way.

Props to him.

Labels: Administration Obama, McCain

STILL RUNNING

Obama called on McCain today as the first person to ask questions after Obama's rundown of the economy and stimulus.

McCain made a little speech about spending and got on the Presidential helicopter purchase which has become something of a boondoggle.

Obama defused with humor. A joke about his being happy with what he rides in now. But this was his first helicopter so maybe he was missing something. Laughter ensued.

Very good.

Once more he gives McCain some rope and McCain sort of ties himself up in it. The whole economy teeters and Mr. Straight Talk is worried about the helicopters.

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

I am just amused at the way that Obama runs circles around these guys. He calls them out and lets them talk then makes his own points.

You may remember that he did this to McCain when they had the big conflab with Bush at the White House. He asked what McCain thought they should do. McCain, at that time, had nothing to offer. Fatal.

So the campaign continues and Obama is still ahead.

Labels: Administration Obama, McCain

REDEMPTION

I gotta hand it to McCain for this:

McCain scolds GOP for whacking Obama

“I think that the Obama campaign should and will give all information necessary. You know, in all due respect to the Republican National Committee and anybody — right now, I think we should try to be working constructively together, not only on an issue such as this, but on the economy stimulus package, reforms that are necessary. And so, I don't know all the details of the relationship between President-elect Obama's campaign or his people and the governor of Illinois, but I have some confidence that all the information will come out. It always does, it seems to me.”

It has been annoying to see the daily diatribe of the RNC about this.

It is pure political pot stirring. Just the kind of thing we all voted to have done with.

As to whether any of the Blago shit gets washed up on the Obamas shoes, time will tell. I would assume that there was communications over the vacant senate seat and no doubt names were named in recommendation.

That there was talk of payoff? Forget it. And if some flunky did it, fire them immediately as an example and move on.

As smelly as the scandal is, there is nothing close to the smell of unsupervised billions to the banks, catastrophic unemployment and the continued wars in two countries. The laundry list goes on and on.

First things first.

Labels: Administration Obama, McCain

HAIR OF THE DOG

For campaign addicts who are experiencing withdrawal symptoms, this is just the thing.

Analysis points to 5 key debate moments

I remember each of these fondly and I hope you do the same.

I still savor the look on McCain's face when Obama said that Joe the Plumber would get a zero fine. "Zero"?, McCain stammered. Eyes in the headlights.

I still think of that as a turning point.

He was gobsmacked.

1.4 million hits on YouTube.

Labels: Barack Obama, election, McCain

PALIN

I know. The election is over. But Sarah Palin keeps on running. Like the Energizer Bunny.

What Just Happened

In her media blitz after election, she comes off more vacant than I thought she was before.

Never mind that she did no 'real' interviews before the election.

It is scary that people would get behind and even adore such an out of touch bullshitter.

She is a talking head from teevee news. And sports at that.

She is unengaged and disinterested in the world. Totally self obsessed.

Labels: McCain