1. 16 Nov


    This was a rough week for John McCain. On Thursday, the Arizona senator and former GOP presidential nominee missed a classified briefing on the Benghazi consulate attack because he was busy holding a press conference about the lack of information about that very consulate attack. Pressed to comment on the mix-up by a CNN reporter, McCain snapped. “I have no comment about my schedule and I’m not going to comment on how I spend my time to the media,” he told CNN’s Ted Barrett. “I have the right as a senator to have no comment and who the hell are you to tell me I can or not?” 

    Of course, McCain has a long history of losing his cool in public. Let’s take a walk down memory lane and reflect on four of the Maverick’s sassiest moments

     

  2. 14 Aug


    When Republican John McCain announced charismatic first-term Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate on Aug. 29, 2008, he re-energized his campaign. But it soon became clear that Team McCain had insufficiently vetted the “hockey mom” who was ill-prepared for the national stage and would arguably prove to be a liability — and a cautionary tale for future presidential candidates. History’s 9 most surprising VP picks: A slideshow

    When Republican John McCain announced charismatic first-term Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate on Aug. 29, 2008, he re-energized his campaign. But it soon became clear that Team McCain had insufficiently vetted the “hockey mom” who was ill-prepared for the national stage and would arguably prove to be a liability — and a cautionary tale for future presidential candidates.

     

  3. 13 Mar


    Nobody can remember a presidential primary fight quite like this one. But people are sure trying. Pundits and armchair historians are offering a parade of analogies to past candidates and campaigns. Sometimes the comparisons work, and sometimes they strain credulity. Here, some past presidential candidates that bear at least some passing similarity to Romney 2012: John KerryThe similarities between Romney and the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee are almost eerie, says Anjeanette Damon in the Las Vegas Sun. “Here are the easy ones”: Kerry’s a U.S. senator from Massachusetts, Romney was its governor; each comes from wealth and privilege and attended Harvard; both are “lacking in interpersonal skills and are awkward campaigners”; and of course, both are derided as serial “flip-floppers,” and have “perpetually camera-ready hair.” More to the point, just like Kerry in 2004, Romney is seen by his party as “a good fit for the political atmosphere,” with the right résumé to take on a vulnerable incumbent hated by his base. George H.W. BushThe former president and Romney are so similar that the comparisons dominated a recent episode of MSNBC’s Morning Joe, says Michael Shear in The New York Times. Bush and Romney are both malaprop-prone, wealthy Republicans whose family ties helped them get ahead in politics, but who later “struggled to earn the trust of the conservatives” in the Republican Party. And Romney’s “disconnect with working-class voters is eerily familiar” to anyone who remembers Bush’s campaigns: For Romney, the out-of-touch gaffes include casual $10,000 bets and palling around with NASCAR team owners. For Bush, the famous episode was his reported “amazement over a grocery store scanner in 1992.” Bob DoleSome conservative commentators are publicly fretting that after this long, punishing primary, “Romney’s public image is now defined by a word never associated with winning presidential campaigns — weakness,” say John F. Harris and Jonathan Martin at Politico. The fear is that “once a politician takes on an aroma of hopelessness, he keeps it,” like the GOP’s 1996 nominee. Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole “limped to his nomination with few people expecting he would make a real race of it against Clinton, and he never did.” And neither Dole nor Romney appear to have the “creativity and keen intuition under pressure” needed to turn the narrative around. Bill ClintonRomney’s political “poison doesn’t have to be permanent” — just ask Bill Clinton, says Steve Kornacki at Salon. At this point in 1992, Clinton was more unpopular than Romney is now; like Romney, he became the “frontrunner after the party’s entire A-list roster passed on the race,” and both candidates have faced “limited voter enthusiasm and loud calls for a white knight candidate.” And when it comes to foreign policy, says Noah Millman at The American Conservative, candidate Clinton and Romney both opted for “hawkish posturing” and “shameless positioning” rather than serious ideas. If elected, Romney would probably govern like Clinton, too: “A lot of gratuitously alienating bombast around a policy aimed at short-term political considerations.” Three more comparisons

    Nobody can remember a presidential primary fight quite like this one. But people are sure trying. Pundits and armchair historians are offering a parade of analogies to past candidates and campaigns. Sometimes the comparisons work, and sometimes they strain credulity. Here, some past presidential candidates that bear at least some passing similarity to Romney 2012:

    • John Kerry
      The similarities between Romney and the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee are almost eerie, says Anjeanette Damon in the Las Vegas Sun. “Here are the easy ones”: Kerry’s a U.S. senator from Massachusetts, Romney was its governor; each comes from wealth and privilege and attended Harvard; both are “lacking in interpersonal skills and are awkward campaigners”; and of course, both are derided as serial “flip-floppers,” and have “perpetually camera-ready hair.” More to the point, just like Kerry in 2004, Romney is seen by his party as “a good fit for the political atmosphere,” with the right résumé to take on a vulnerable incumbent hated by his base.
    • George H.W. Bush
      The former president and Romney are so similar that the comparisons dominated a recent episode of MSNBC’s Morning Joe, says Michael Shear in The New York Times. Bush and Romney are both malaprop-prone, wealthy Republicans whose family ties helped them get ahead in politics, but who later “struggled to earn the trust of the conservatives” in the Republican Party. And Romney’s “disconnect with working-class voters is eerily familiar” to anyone who remembers Bush’s campaigns: For Romney, the out-of-touch gaffes include casual $10,000 bets and palling around with NASCAR team owners. For Bush, the famous episode was his reported “amazement over a grocery store scanner in 1992.”
    • Bob Dole
      Some conservative commentators are publicly fretting that after this long, punishing primary, “Romney’s public image is now defined by a word never associated with winning presidential campaigns — weakness,” say John F. Harris and Jonathan Martin at Politico. The fear is that “once a politician takes on an aroma of hopelessness, he keeps it,” like the GOP’s 1996 nominee. Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole “limped to his nomination with few people expecting he would make a real race of it against Clinton, and he never did.” And neither Dole nor Romney appear to have the “creativity and keen intuition under pressure” needed to turn the narrative around.
    • Bill Clinton
      Romney’s political “poison doesn’t have to be permanent” — just ask Bill Clinton, says Steve Kornacki at Salon. At this point in 1992, Clinton was more unpopular than Romney is now; like Romney, he became the “frontrunner after the party’s entire A-list roster passed on the race,” and both candidates have faced “limited voter enthusiasm and loud calls for a white knight candidate.” And when it comes to foreign policy, says Noah Millman at The American Conservative, candidate Clinton and Romney both opted for “hawkish posturing” and “shameless positioning” rather than serious ideas. If elected, Romney would probably govern like Clinton, too: “A lot of gratuitously alienating bombast around a policy aimed at short-term political considerations.”

    Three more comparisons

     

  4. 1 Jul


    When it comes to politicians borrowing music without permission, John McCain is a repeat offender. He’s been knocked for using ”Right Now,” “Our Country,” “Pink Houses,” “My Hero,” and “Running on Empty.” During the 2008 race, Van Halen, John Mellencamp, the Foo Fighters, and Jackson Browne all ordered McCain to stop using their songs, with Browne suing him for $75,000. This week, Tom Petty told Michele Bachmann that she couldn’t use “American Girl” on the campaign trail. Here’s a slideshow of other rockers and the politicians they’ve sparred with.

    When it comes to politicians borrowing music without permission, John McCain is a repeat offender. He’s been knocked for using ”Right Now,” “Our Country,” “Pink Houses,” “My Hero,” and “Running on Empty.” During the 2008 race, Van Halen, John Mellencamp, the Foo Fighters, and Jackson Browne all ordered McCain to stop using their songs, with Browne suing him for $75,000.

    This week, Tom Petty told Michele Bachmann that she couldn’t use “American Girl” on the campaign trail. Here’s a slideshow of other rockers and the politicians they’ve sparred with.

     

  5. 20 Jun


    As the Wallow wildfire charbroils more than 500,000 acres of Arizona, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) is blaming illegal immigrants.”There is substantial evidence that some of these fires have been caused by people who have crossed our border illegally,” McCain said Saturday, while declining to offer any such evidence. Photo: CC BY NASA Goddard Photo and Video

    As the Wallow wildfire charbroils more than 500,000 acres of Arizona, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) is blaming illegal immigrants.”There is substantial evidence that some of these fires have been caused by people who have crossed our border illegally,” McCain said Saturday, while declining to offer any such evidence.

    Photo: CC BY NASA Goddard Photo and Video