Today’s new “new low” from McCain spokesmen Tucker Bounds and wingnut extraordinaire Michael Godfarb, on loan to the Bullshit Express from the Weekly Standard:
The McCain campaign implied on Wednesday that Barack Obama’s commitment to preventing a future genocide was not sincere, attacking the Democratic candidate during his appearance at the Israeli Holocaust Memorial Yad Vashem.
In an early morning press release, entitled “Obama on Genocide,” McCain aide Tucker Bounds emailed reporters a quote from Obama’s appearance in which the Illinois Democrat reiterated the cry “never again.” He followed that quote with one taken a year ago from an interview that the Senator gave with the Associated Press in which he said that genocide or humanitarian crises were not a prerequisite for keeping U.S. troops in Iraq (a statement he has since walked back)
“Well, look, if that’s the criteria by which we are making decisions on the deployment of U.S. forces,” said Obama, “then by that argument you would have 300,000 troops in the Congo right now.”
The message was fairly explicit: Obama’s commitment to stopping future Holocausts is in doubt. Asked for clarification, McCain aide Michael Goldfarb responded:
“Today he says ‘never again.’ A year ago stopping genocide wasn’t a good enough reason to keep U.S. forces in Iraq. Doesn’t that strike you as inconsistent?”
Other things Obama has not done enough to stop:
The Mummy IV
Future Savings and Loan Crises
Lunar Eclipses
Herpes Outbreaks
The earth being ravaged by a vengeful Army sent by the Flying Spaghetti Monster
Stupid shit being muttered in desperation by the McCain campaign
Bubblegum Tate
He also hasn’t stopped Eddie Murphy from making shitty movies. Can we really trust this man?
cyntax
Now I’m no constitutional scholar, but I’m pretty sure that if he did that is the one thing that would allow the suspension of the 22nd Ammendment.
Face
It takes a very, very bold man to imply that an opposing Presidential Candidate wouldn’t be bothered to stop another future slaughtering of millions of innocent people.
I’m sure the WashPost will spin this a very Mavericky Maneuver, cunning and well-played.
NewUnansweredQuestions
This is a remarkable campaign year. Only weeks ago, we were talking as if the primary season would never end and we couldn’t want to start the General Election campaign.
Now, the GE campaign has hardly started, and it’s over. One side has thrown it. One side has descended into farce and buffoonery and made a mockery of its own strong points, which now really don’t matter.
Kevin Drum suggests today that McCain fire Schmidt, his campaign director of two weeks. Drum is a pretty laid back and low-key pundit. When Kevin Drum talks like that, you are seriously screwing the pooch in broad daylight in front of witnesses.
4tehlulz
I didn’t realize we would get credit for preventing genocides we touched off through an invasion.
Also,
Really, after essentially calling Obama a traitor, this is actually a walkback.
Sloegin
Would Obama have any kind of chance in stopping Future Obama?
Wilfred
Now I’m completely lost. Does this mean that Bush is also not committed to preventing genocide, given his do-nothing positions on Darfur and the Congo? Or does Goldfarb mean that genocide only matters when Jews are, or might be, the victims?
Mike S
McCain was against and tried to stop funding for the Bosnia/Kosovo war. That raises two questions.
Why does he support genocide against Muslims?
If he knows how to win wars why did he try to stop us from winning the only war we have won in over 5 decades?
John Cole
It really looks like McCain plumbed the depths of the online right, came up with the Rove wannabees, Red State flunkies that couldn’t get front page posting privileges, and neocon wingnut hacks who were too unrefined, dangerous, venal, undisciplined and stupid to work for the Bush administration. And that is what you have running the McCain campaign.
The only wing of putrid GOP filth missing from the McCain campaign is a group from the Dobsonite flat-earth nutjobs.
dslak
Consider this Exhibit B.
w vincentz
So…the McCrap camp wants to prevent genocide? HUH?
What about the one that’s presently being committed on the Iraqi people, and has been ongoing for the past five plus years?
Fakkars!
Incertus
If he could ensure that Brendan Fraser never got another acting job, he would be the greatest President ever.
TenguPhule
George Lucas directing another movie.
Mike S
They’ll be recruiting from NoQuarter soon because NoQuarter has been working on their swift boat bonefides.
The only problem for them is that they don’t have the brains of your average swift boater. And after spending a lot of time on the swifty blog last time I can say without a doubt that that is saying something.
maxbaer (not the original)
Don’t these guys know that is what 527’s are for? You know, scurrilous bullshit.
Buck
Give it a little time. They will get there eventually.
The Moar You Know
Obama’s failure to prevent George Lucas from destroying the Star Wars franchise embarassingly points out his inability to govern.
D. Mason
Doesn’t this put McCain squarely in the anti-future genocide prevention camp?
jrg
Did it never occur to McCain’s dumb ass that “ethnic cleansing” would not be a problem in Iraq if we did not de-stabilize the country by overthrowing Saddam? Even Dick Cheney realized this during the first gulf war.
But I forget – Liberals are both unhappy that Saddam is gone and they are responsible for the chaos that resulted from the power vacuum that followed the overthrow of Saddam. Anything bad that happens is always the liberal’s fault, even if it’s in a dictatorship halfway around the world, or it’s the result of Republican ignorance and mismanagement here in the USA and abroad.
How many more Iraqis would be alive today if in 2003 McCain showed half the sack that Obama did?
Obama voiced his concerns over the (then-potential) genocide, and almost certain instability, back in 2002, when it mattered. Where was McCain?
Barak Obama, 2002, when it mattered.
Krista
The comeback of 80’s fashion. That bastard.
NewUnansweredQuestions
Yeah, that whole Klein-Althouse thing is irrelevant. Almost two thirds of Americans think that the Obama-Maliki-Bush “timeline horizon thingy” is a good idea, because it meets the one requirement that the majority of Americans are interested in: Getting us OUT of Iraq as soon as possible.
John McPain can flap his arms and stamp his feet as much as he wants about who was righter, firster, and surgier, it doesn’t matter. What matters is that McCain is talking about why all this means HE SHOULD BE PRESIDENT, while Obama is talking about why all this means THE WAR SHOULD BE OVER. Country first? See John’s finger in an earlier thread. McCain is not Country First, he is all about making sure that he gets credit for supporting the surge.
What he doesn’t realize is that people are not going to elect him for supporting the surge. They are going to elect the other guy for wanting us out of Iraq as soon as possible, which is in alignment with what the people want.
McCain doesn’t get this now. He will, in about 100 days.
D. Mason
Uh … duh.
Zifnab
I can’t wait for tomorrow’s McCain flub. I hear he plans to accuse Obama of making basketball the national past time. Then next week he has a “call Paris the capital of Germany” gaff, followed by “pick a VP candidate that can offend half my own base” goof-up. And if we’re really lucky, we’ll get to see him stand in front of a microphone for ten minutes and drool into a cup.
McCain really is Bush’s 3rd Term on this. The man has mastered the art of complete bullshit incompetence.
Dreggas
Wasn’t Schmidt brought on to “re-focus” the campaign for epic amounts of WIN? BWAHAHAHAHAA!
Wilfred
Fair play’s a jewel, and in fairness to McCain it was he and Dole who sponsored the Senate bill to support Clinton’s possible deployment of US troops in Bosnia. This was with the strong pre-condition that the US lead the effort to arm, train and supply the Bosnian Muslims, something that 39 US Senators voted against, even knowing what had happened at Srebenica (The vote was in December. Srebenica had happened in July, IIRC)
Ninerdave
Can I add Hannah Montana and the Wiggles to that list?
D. Mason
Don’t kid yourself, he will just think he was cheated.
smiley
Good point. This is the perfect comeback. I hope someone in the Obama camp thinks of it and mentions it on Morning Joe, Hardball, and/or the Situation Room.Maddow will probably have it whereever she shows up next.
jrg
To clarify my above post: clearly the Kurds were the victim of genocide under Saddam, but that was in 1988, when Ronnie was in the White House (Reagan removed Iraq from the list of terrorist countries in 1982, despite objections from congress).
Dreggas
Well No Shit Sherlock. McCain was loathed by these people, always has been because he was no W. and wouldn’t suck their collective phallus. Now he’s doing everything he can to do just that figuring the ruse worked on the “middle”. Fortunately the middle tends to not be a complete waste of human skin so and they aren’t buying it.
McCain has become just as stupid as Bush. In order to win the nomination he probably downed enough booze to pickle his brain and, well, take a guess where all that energy could possibly come from.
He’s down on his good knee rimming the wingnuts and will do so until November. To me it’s a perfect ending to his two-faced carreer.
Oh and he now is talking about rationing veterans health care.
Dreggas
Hurricane Dolly
Michael Jackson
American Idol
and since McCain likes to revise history and forget when things actually happened:
The Challenger Disaster
9-11
The USS Cole bombing
Saddams invasion of Kuwait.
dslak
Since nobody else has mentioned it, pace Goldfarb: The US didn’t enter WWII to prevent the Holocaust, nor was it ever concerned with preventing the Holocaust and its associated activities during hostilities.
Keith
I would submit McCain’s stock answer for the question “Why are you for something when you voted against it?”: “Because the bill had earmarks in it.”
Noah
You must check out this amazing John McCain campaign poster. Apparently Pearl Harbor’s Michael Bay is directing his campaign!
http://novemberblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/oh-my-god-michael-bay-is-directing-john.html
Mike S
Wilfred is correct and I was mistaken. But this gem from McCaiin 88 is priceless:
It sure would be nice if a reporter asked him about that.
Brachiator
Also:
Further Star Wars movies
The heartbreak of psoriasis
The remake of “The Day The Earth Stood Still,” starring Keanu Reeves
Tony J
“The Mummy IV? Good, God, what new atrocity has that crimson haired harridan spawned this time? Let me see. Google-link. Oh, it’s a mooooviiiee. Let me see, click here. Ugh! Why couldn’t the Fat Man have sprung for a better connection instead of blowing on that absurd Battle of Bunker Hill Revisionist Recreationist bondoogle (cut to flashback) (cut back to scene) …… ahhh! Ahaahhhhhh! AAAHHHHHH! Mommy! MOMMY!! MOMMMEEEEE!!!!!”
In my head, it’s the voice of Stewie Griffin.
Mike S
Sorry, here’s the link.
Dork
To McCain, ethnic cleansing is asking his Mexican nanny to shower more often.
w vincentz
If McCranky is SO opposed to genocide, how come he got shot down over Hanoi when he was contributing to the effort of the US military to commit genocide on the North Vietnamese civilians? hmmm…
Oh, and while I’m asking questions Johnnie McCrap, since you state that you “know how to win wars”, name one that you did.
angie
The return of King Arthur
Star Wars Episode 0.5 — Jar Jar Binks: The College Years
The replacing of our gourmet coffee with Folgers crystals.
Law and Order: CSI
The Earth’s destruction via giant ants
The sun’s implosion
Vermont’s secession from the US
Palooza
And a pattern emerges:
http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/07/liberal_fascism.php
Mike S
Lovely. Keep that shit to yourself, please.
jake
Nope. No knee jerk incomprehensible reaction to anything the other candidate says going on in the McCamp. Nosireebob. Soon they’ll be screaming “NUH-UH YER A LIAR!” when Obama gives his name and age.
Seriously, the Bush Admin. couldn’t have create a better distraction from their fuck ups if they tried.
cyntax
I’m sorry but I gotta say Gort is the part Keanu was born to play.
Dreggas
Ok I LOLed at that one.
w vincentz
Mike S,
Why?
Do you oppose “free speech” or “truth”?
BC
HERPES
Well, as a frequent sufferer of the cold sore variety of herpes, I will have to rethink my electoral strategy. If Obama can’t prevent outbreak of herpes, why do we need a president at all?
Mike S
w vincentz
No, I oppose dicks.
rob!
Obama also didn’t stop Happy Days from doing that final season without Richie and Ralph Malph, and that was just shit.
Christ, i’ve made up my mind, i’m voting for McCain.
Ben Richards
Noah – it took the extra planes in that picture and the suggestion of Pearl Harbor for me to realize that the little star graphic underscoring “McCain” looks like a propeller fighter plane! Perfect for old John.
w vincentz
I also opposed them, Nixon, Cheney et al.
Now, go find someone else to talk bullshit with.
Zifnab
Down with pants! Up with skirts!
Mike S
Oh vinney, it’s not that I’m talking with you. Actually I’m just looking at you with the pity you deserve.
w vincentz
Mikey,
Spare me the pity. Find a mirror.
Gregory
…after having an aide make hard copies of their postings, no doubt.
Mike S
OH SNAP!!!!!!!!! I feel like I’ve been “moded” by Jonah Goldberg.
Adam
One day we will look proudly on all the present Republican president and leadership has successfully done to stop ongoing genocide in Africa, and all the ethnic cleansing and refugee displacement that didn’t happen in Iraq, and exclaim… huzzah!
Onward empty promises and hollow rhetoric!
(we snark because we stopped crying long ago)
truth machine
It really looks like McCain plumbed the depths of the online right, came up with the Rove wannabees, Red State flunkies that couldn’t get front page posting privileges, and neocon wingnut hacks who were too unrefined, dangerous, venal, undisciplined and stupid to work for the Bush administration. And that is what you have running the McCain campaign.
No no no, that can’t possibly be right, because Jonathan Chait of The New Republican says that likable John McCain wouldn’t be such a bad president because, while his policies are as bad as Bush’s, he doesn’t use Rove’s playbook. No, really, that’s what he said.
truth machine
Lovely. Keep that shit to yourself, please.
I’d rather he didn’t; McCain is, in fact, the only candidate who actively participated in genocide.
w vincentz
truthmachine,
Thanks. You might some of the articles at vietnamveteransagainstjohnmccain to be of interest.
w vincentz
oops, ^”find” between might/some.
(dang, I hate it when that happens)
liberal
Mike S wrote,
Yeah, God forbid anyone actually reference the US murder of millions of Indochinese.
jcricket
I was wondering when someone would bring that up. In fact, there are several recent history books that point out American Jews and other concerned citizens brought the German’s extermination campaign to the attention of people in power as early as 1941 (and after that as well), but D-Day (when we entered Europe) didn’t happen until 1944. And British citizens were being shelled daily during this period too…
So the isolationists in American politics (of which I guarantee McCain would have been a part of back then) successfully blocked any “humanitarian” early intervention.
Conservatives want to endlessly talk in rhetorical circles, shifting the goal posts and the rules so that blame can never be pinned on them. Not sure when this started, but the whole “liberals caused us to lose the Vietnam war’ thing seems like a good starting point for this phenomenon. It’s just uglier and stupider this time around. Too much in-breeding on the part of the Republicans, too much anti-science rhetoric, and you get morons as your supporters.
LongHairedWeirdo
Okay, that’s funny, but I’m sorry, now I have to torment anyone who watches the South Park movie.
You can replace “Brian Boitano” with “Barack Obama” and the song still scans.
Which would make for an interesting video response to those complaints, at least.
croatoan
http://www.bullshitexpress.com/
4jkb4ia
In other words Obama, who was happy to consult with Samantha Power who really did care about genocide, does not care about genocide because he pointed out that not all genocides are created equal for US government reactions. The stupid is terrifying. Hilzoy nailed it again.