Update -- Obama pounds 'No Change McCain': Here's video of Barack Obama in Chesapeake, VA this evening, sticking to the "out of touch" theme illustrated by McCain's "How many houses?" moment. He was just scorching:
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Original post:
My oh my, how quickly things can change. From the handwringing of yesterday to the buttkicking of today. It started with the news that he couldn't keep track of how many homes he owns:
If you're pro-choice, John McCain isn't for you. Here he is earlier tonight at the Saddleback forum:
I have a 25 year record pro-life record in the Congress, in the Senate, and as President of the United States I will be a pro-life president, and this presidency will have pro-life policies. That's my commitment. That's my commitment to you.
Asked earlier today about the anti-Obama smears spread by bigot Jerome Corsi, John McCain made of light of them, saying you "gotta' keep your sense of humor" about such vicious falsehoods.
But after the Obama campaign said those comments were out of line, McCain's aides started to backpedal, now claiming that McCain couldn't hear the question.
Here's video from FOX about McCain's comments, and his staff's backpedal. Initially, FOX laughs along with McCain...and then an hour later, they're saying he couldn't hear the question.
Here's my newest video, focusing on McCain's relationship with Washington, DC lobbyists, using clips from the past 18 years, from the Keating scandal to present. The video is about two minutes long.
I almost (but not quite) feel sorry for McCain's campaign staff. How can they possibly spin this as a positive? (Emphasis added.)
McCain said he would concentrate on getting more sleep when he can.
"If I put in three or four 18-hour, 20-hour days in a row, I'm not sharp. It's just a fact," the Republican senator from Arizona said. "I'm more sharp if I get a little rest."
McCain said he feels best sleeping until 7:30 or 8 a.m., as opposed to his usual morning drill of rising at 5:30 or 6 a.m.
"It seems to help me to get up a little later in the morning," he said, joking, "Sorry to bother with that intimate detail."
So John McCain is claiming great umbrage at Barack Obama's lighthearted comment that Bush and McCain would emphasize that "he doesn't look like all those other presidents on the dollar bills."
But if John McCain thinks that comment was playing the race card, then why did he play it first? One month ago -- in late June -- a McCain ad superimposed Obama's visage on a one hundred dollar bill as part of an effort to mock Obama's supposed 'presumptuousness.'
Update: The McCain bury brigade buried this on digg despite getting 180 diggs in the first 2 hours. When will they ever learn? Anyway, you know what to do: please redigg and spread the word.
Update 2: Great work everybody! It's on the digg home page!
Josh Marshall digs up a Salon.com article from February, 2007 arguing that John McCain hedged his bets on the surge:
By simultaneously endorsing the surge and harshly criticizing certain aspects of the Bush plan as potentially disastrous, McCain appears to be hedging his bets should the surge fail. "He is looking for an exit strategy if it does not work," said Stephen Wayne, a political science professor at Georgetown University. "It says: 'You just did not do it right, Mr. President.'"
The article points to a February 8, 2007 Senate floor speech by McCain opposing the nomination of Gen. George Casey to be Army chief of staff. I found video of it, and sure enough, McCain did hedge his bets on the surge -- and he wasn't subtle about it at all.
John Aravosis at AMERICAblog sent over a tip that John McCain had needed a crib sheet to talk about milk prices during yesterday's photo opportunity at a Bethlehem, Pennsylvania supermarket.
HuffPo's Seth Colter Walls found a gem of a quote -- John McCain talking about the Anbar Awakening on January 5, 2007...before Bush announced the surge.
Too often the light at the tunnel has turned out to be a train, but I really believe -- I really believe that there's a strong possibility that you may see a very substantial change in Anbar province due to this new changes in our relationships with the sheiks in the region.
As you know, McCain's CBS whopper was that these relationships (the Anbar Awakening) did not begin until the surge started. But they actually began in 2006, and now, thanks to the fact that I happened to have video of the event Walls referenced (go figure), we've got a YouTube clip of John McCain making that very point himself, in his own words -- before there ever was a surge.
Update: Despite getting two hundred diggs in just a few hours, this video never made it to digg's home page. Turns out it was buried, presumably by McCainiacs. Please redigg with the new link that has been set up and spread the word if you can -- let's stop this McCain censorship.
Over the past few days I've been working on a longish video focusing on John McCain and the War in Iraq. I don't think I'll be finished with it until tomorrow or Wednesday, but in the meantime I've created a preview trailer focusing on 2002 and McCain's pre-war support for the invasion of Iraq.
You may have seen some of the video in this clip, but most of it will probably be stuff you haven't seen before. The music -- Radiohead's "Meeting in the Aisle" is from its Airbag/How Am I Driving EP. (I'm planning on using different music for the full video, which will extend through 2008.)
Gotta' love Chuck! Here he is making the point that the trip so far is a huge win for Obama, and that even in his "CENTCOM clarification" Maliki used the word "timetable," reinforcing Obama's message on ending the war. According to Todd, this all points to the economy returning as the central issue of the campaign.
According to FEC reports filed yesterday, John McCain has already raised at $62.5 million in private funds that can be used for his general election campaign -- even though he's already committed to accepting public funding for the general.
Moreover, based on my own analysis, of that $62.5 million, three-quarters -- $46.3 million -- comes from a total of 1,803 wealthy individuals who made five figure contributions averaging $25,664 each.
So not only is John McCain blatantly violating his public financing pledge, but he's doing it in grand style, raising money in increments of up to $70,000 per donor -- more than thirty times the amount a donor can give to Barack Obama's general election campaign.
How is this all possible? How has most of the media missed the story? Allow me to explain.
