Cristiano

John McCain: Arizona Contraception Bill Should Be Vetoed

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"For my part, I know nothing with any certainty, but the sight of the stars makes me dream" - Vincent Van Gogh

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Ann Otoole

how about these fuckwits fuck the hell off. oh yea, arizona.

Errafel Eccleston

Odds he wants to try and get the party in a better light and actually does agree with them?

detrius

From March 1:
Senate Defeats Blunt Amendment to Stop Obama HHS Mandate | LifeNews.com

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Joshua Nightshade

What a dipshit loser.

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detrius

Or he's just a corrupt sell-out with no own opinion and does whatever it takes to get reelected.

bronxelf

No. I think he's telling the truth. I think honestly that he has seen the face of the supporters of the GOP and is horrified by them.

He had his moment of epiphany on national television four years ago.

Before he ran for president, John McCain was someone you could disagree with, sure, but he wasn't BONKERS. He sold his soul to make that run for the presidency, and along the way I think he learned a lot of hard and awful lessons about is own party.

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Joshua Nightshade

But he voted for the bill he said he thought should be vetoed.

bronxelf

I realized when I posted I wasnt clear.

Dont get me wrong. He's playing political chutes and ladders with the rest of them- he's definitely playing both sides against the middle.

But his statement here is consistent with his overall sensibility throughout his political career, prior to his run for the presidency. He may not have been someone I often agree with, but he didn't fill me with HORROR the way his compatriots do.

For the rest of my life, I will say that the most defining moment of the 2008 presidential race was this one:


I really think he had a moment of epiphany here, where he realized that things had become wildly out of control, and that the very people who were supporting him were not only ignorant and hateful, but truly frightening.

Aribeth Zelin

No, he voted for a different one - the one he said should be vetoed was on state level.

I suspect the women in his life smacked him down and thus he's changing his tune.

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Jahar Aabye

It's also worth pointing out that McCain's choice of Sarah Palin as his running mate was supposedly made without really doing any research on her at all (not even Google, apparently). From what I've heard, she was on a list of prominent Republicans, and he based his decision on the fact that she was a woman who had a reputation for being a maverick and speaking her mind (I'm willing to believe that he was not, at that point, aware of the contents of that mind). Of course, it was a poor decision made without enough consideration or forethought.

But it's worth considering that a man who expresses an interest in a running mate because she's a woman who's willing to speak her mind, is probably not the sort of man who thinks women should be meek and submissive and all that other crap. The fact that he's raised a daughter to be outspoken and politically active also points in that direction.

And yeah, I agree with bronxelf about McCain's change, although it was sort of gradual during the Bush years. I think he felt that his unwillingness to embrace the religious right played a role in his loss in the 2000 Republican primary race. It was over the next few years that he started moving more to the right on social issues.

I wouldn't be surprised if he's having a bit of an "Ariel Sharon" moment, where he realizes that he's not got much time left and wants to undo some of the damage that he's done while he still can.

Still doesn't explain why he voted for the Blunt amendment, though.

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He pulled a Captain Ahab and Jaharpwn'ed her. - Trout

Gabriell Anatra

I suspect that he's counting on the large number of people who're too lazy to bother checking his record and will just go on his word.

Aribeth Zelin

I always heard he wasn't given much of a choice on Palin, that the party picked her.

Eris

I think the only revelation he's had is that it's a losing issue.

Amity Slade

McCain's pick of Palin was a cynical ploy to pick up women voters.

The Democratic Party was coming off a highly contested primary that would have seen Hillary Clinton be the first woman to run for president for a major party had she won. Many of the women who had supported Clinton were quite publicly disenchanted over coming so close to nominate a woman and losing out. There was even talk of women Democrats not supporting Obama as some sort of protest.

It was in this environment that McCain developed a short list of vice presidential candidates who were women. It was based on the Republican theory that minorities don't make thoughtful decisions in elections, but merely prefer to vote for one of their own kind.

McCain didn't find out more about Palin because the only credential in which he was interested was that she was a woman, and he thought that alone would secure the woman vote and take him to the White House.

Making the choice about her based solely on her biological sex without regard to her intelligence or competence does not comport with any feminist ideal. And we continue to see the legacy of that choice.

detrius

If I remember correctly, when McCain picked Palin as his VP candidate, he was still expecting Hilary Clinton to be his opponent in the presidential election.

So he chose her to a.) appeal to women voters (expecting them to be easily fooled), b.) appeal to the libidos of male voters and c.) embody the fundamentalist Christian values he lacked. Palin was basically a blank page and supposed to be his Christian sex bunny. It was just karmic retribution when her mouth proved to be bigger than her brain, undoing his campaign.

It was really sexist in both directions because the decision was based on the assumption that women would just vote for another women and men would vote with their penises.

Asher Bertrand

I think that is a little harsh on McCain. By the time he made his Veep selection, it was known that Obama was going to be running. Here was the first black American to make a viable run for the presidency, and he was filling stadiums. McCain knew he couldn't just offer another old white guy on his ticket; it would be a non-starter. He had to try to make his own kind of historic campaign. Had to, or he didn't have a chance.

It just wasn't the history he wanted to make.

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Io Zeno

McCain was always a Party Man with a human being struggling to get out. He's also very self-destructive, a bit crazy and well.... He's John McCain, you never know when you are going to wake up and agree with something he said or want to kill him.

detrius

It's not too harsh on McCain, he could have had any experienced female Republican, but he chose the sexy rookie.

Io Zeno

I do think he was pressured into picking Palin.

But that is as much an insult as saying he wanted her, himself. He didn't care, whatever, if that will help me win, get the wingnut chick. Even though she would be a heartbeat away from the Oval Office.

detrius

It's really fucked up, no matter how you turn it.

Cristiano

That is not being harsh on McCain. The way he acted in the 2008 election across the board was disgusting. He sold out an entire career as a moderate, principled senator and pandered in whatever ways he needed to in order to get elected. He was a shell of his former self, and since then has just been an angry old troll.

If anything, that wasn't harsh enough. Whether he was forced to by circumstance or by opportunity, picking Palin was another example of his incredibly poor judgement and willingness to sell out his legacy. You are seeing it repeating with Romney now.

Amity Slade

It doesn't matter what kind of pressure was on McCain. He was the candidate, he was the final decision-maker, if he can't control his own campaign he can't run the country. He survived a prison camp, he ought to be able to handle his own campaign to make the big decisions for himself without giving in to any undue pressure.

detrius

10,000 *



Seriously, his entire campaign ran on the "I'm a war hero" meme and he couldn't make his own decisions?

Amity Slade

At the time, I had read one article that stated that Kay Bailey Hutchinson was at the top of McCain's list for running mates, but she had let his campaign know quietly through back channels that she wasn't interested. Aren't Palin and Hutchinson night and day when it comes to intelligence and competence. I do wonder how many other competent women were on McCain's first list who also let him know quietly they weren't interested. It's possible that Palin was chosen because, after everyone else wanted to part of it, Palin was the last woman standing.