Day: 10/16/2008

John McCain And Citizens Against Government Waste

Posted by on October 16, 2008 at 12:57 pm. NO Comments :

Now that all three presidential debates have been concluded, there is a notable thread of consistency that John McCain maintained throughout the process. In all three debates he cited Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) as a non-partisan watchdog group that voters could go turn for more information about his policies.

  • Debate 1: I suggest that people go up on the Web site of Citizens Against Government Waste, and they’ll look at those projects.
  • Debate 2: And now I suggest that maybe you go to some of these organizations that are the watchdogs of what we do, like the Citizens Against Government Waste or the National Taxpayers Union or these other organizations that watch us all the time.
  • Debate 3: Let’s look at it as graded by the National Taxpayers Union and the Citizens Against Government Waste and the other watchdog organizations.

The only problem is that CAGW is anything but non-partisan. Last month I wrote about how Fox News used CAGW as a source for a story on earmarks by correspondent William La Jeunesse (who may be the most politically biased reporter on Fox, and that’s saying something).

“[CAGW] has publicly endorsed McCain for president and donated $11,000.00 to him or to PACs he controls. CAGW has also worked as a shill to attack McCain opponents in a manner that may have violated election law. It has also been connected to convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

On the board of CAGW is long-time McCain associate, Orson Swindle. They met as cell mates in a North Vietnamese prisoner of war camp where Swindle says that he and McCain ‘slept side-by-side for almost two years.’ Swindle is now the McCain campaign’s veterans liaison and was appointed to his campaign Truth Squad a couple of months ago.”

This is McCain’s idea of a non-partisan source? It’s not particularly surprising that McCain would exploit his cronies to boost himself. But it would be nice if the press would at least make a small mention of this deceit. Then, maybe I’m just too idealistic.

The Supporters Who Make John McCain So Proud

Posted by on October 16, 2008 at 11:40 am. NO Comments :

At last night’s debate, John McCain responded to the reports of derogatory and hostile remarks by his supporters by saying…

“Let me just say categorically I’m proud of the people that come to our rallies.”

Oh really? Are these the people that make you so proud?

“The latest newsletter by an Inland Republican women’s group depicts Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama surrounded by a watermelon, ribs and a bucket of fried chicken, prompting outrage in political circles […] The October newsletter by the Chaffey Community Republican Women, Federated says if Obama is elected his image will appear on food stamps — instead of dollar bills like other presidents.”

Republican officials are now scrambling to apologize. But how seriously can we take their regrets when this seems to happen every other day. In fact, they are still apologizing for a racist web posting yesterday by the Sacramento County Republican Party that called for Obama to be waterboarded, and said that “The only difference between Obama and Osama is BS.”

It should also be noted that McCain’s defense of his supporters was in response to a question about the “pallin around with terrorists” comment directed at Obama. He excused his rally attendees by asserting that there are always a few people in the crowd who say things that are inappropriate. However, that comment was not made by his supporters. It came from the stage, not the crowd. It was Sarah Palin, his nominee for vice president, who made that statement.

McCain, his campaign, and far too many of his supporters are just plain repulsive. But they are a fair representation of the worst that the Republican Party has to offer.