Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Just because you believe it, that doesn’t make it true.

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

The revolution will be supervised.

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

If you are still in the GOP, you are an extremist.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

Republicans: slavery is when you own me. freedom is when I own you.

People are complicated. Love is not.

We’ll be taking my thoughts and prayers to the ballot box.

It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

We are aware of all internet traditions.

Hot air and ill-informed banter

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

Give the craziest people you know everything they want and hope they don’t ask for more? Great plan.

The GOP is a fucking disgrace.

Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

I wonder if trump will be tried as an adult.

No one could have predicted…

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

Joe Lieberman disappointingly reemerged to remind us that he’s still alive.

A lot of Dems talk about what the media tells them to talk about. Not helpful.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

You are here: Home / Past Elections / Election 2008 / OMG- JOHN MCCAIN WAS A POW!

OMG- JOHN MCCAIN WAS A POW!

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This response is pretty limp:

“We’re delighted to have a real estate debate with Barack Obama,” said spokesman Brian Rogers, adding that the press should focus on Obama’s house. “It’s a frickin’ mansion. He doesn’t tell people that. You have a mansion you bought in a shady deal with a convicted felon.”

The felon reference was to Tony Rezko, a former Obama friend and financial backer who was convicted on fraud and bribery charges this year. Rogers vowed to intensify efforts to link Obama to Rezko in the coming days.

“That’s fair game now,” he said. “You are going to see more of that now that this issue has been joined. You’ll see more of the Rezko matter from us.”

The McCain campaign was in full damage-control mode as the housing story took off today. Rogers tried to play down the story, saying that reports of the many McCain houses were overstated.

“The reality is they have some investment properties and stuff. It’s not as if he lives in ten houses. That’s just not the case,” Rogers said. “The reality is they have four that actually could be considered houses they could use.”

You know what? Where is all this Rezko dirt the PUMA’s said was going to show up. Near as I can tell, Obama was not even a factor in the Rezko case, and I am sure that would have come up by now, wouldn’t it? Addditionally, the “I don’t live in my seven houses, I just live in four, the rest are investments” is a really solid way to show how normal you are. Obama, you know, actually lives in his.

Then the kicker:

He also added: “This is a guy who lived in one house for five and a half years — in prison,” referring to the prisoner of war camp that McCain was in during the Vietnam War.

I remember mocking Kerry in 2004, ending almost every post with “BTW- did you know Kerry was in Vietnam?” because the references were inserted in everything he said and did. McCain is even worse than Kerry with the gratuitous references.

This attack clearly has the McCain camp worried. Keep pushing it. These guys are like the loudmouth right-wing bloggers. Punch back and they do not know what to do. They have two modes- asshole, and out of control asshole.

Reader Interactions

65Comments

  3. 3.

    bago

    Just makes you wonder how many of those properties he bought with money from that convicted felon, Keating?

  4. 4.

    NR

    Oh, and I posted this in the other thread, but they are pushing this hard. Jonathon Martin at Politico:

    Barack Obama’s campaign, moving rapidly to exploit what they see as a major opportunity, is deploying high-profile surrogates in 16 states across the country today to highlight John McCain’s uncertainty yesterday about how many houses he owns, the Democrat’s campaign tells Politico.

    Governors, members of Congress and state legislators will hold conference calls and press conferences in front of homes to draw attention to the issue. Party leaders such as Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen and Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, on the stump in Ohio and Iowa respectively, wil move to incorporate the matter into their remarks on the campaign trail today in an effort to draw local media attention to the story.

    Further, some state parties will hold contests in which Democrats seek out real voters who don’t know how many houses they own.

    And in other states, ordinary citizens who have been victim of the mortgage crunch will hold press availabilities to contrast their plight with McCain’s wealth.

    The aggressive move on Obama’s part is in keeping with a shift in campaign tactics since his vacation. Obama and his campaign aides have both ramped up their rhetoric in recent days. This latest effort reflects a willingness to hit McCain much harder and to veer from conventional issue-based attacks to the sort of character assaults that have marked the GOP’s campaign against Obama as well as their effort against John Kerry in 2004.

  5. 5.

    liberal

    I think this mocking of Kerry was funny:
    “Kerry Unveils One-Point Plan For Better America”. Example:

    “If I am elected in November, no inner-city child will have to live in an America where George Bush is president,” Kerry said, addressing a packed Maize High School auditorium. “No senior citizen will lie awake at night, worrying about whether George Bush is still the chief executive of this country. And no American—regardless of gender, regardless of class, regardless of race—will be represented by George Bush in the world community.”

  6. 6.

    jake

    “This is a guy who lived in one house for five and a half years—in prison,”

    Uh … who are we talking about again? Oh, you’re talking about McCain’s time as a POW. Good thing the reporter didn’t just leave the quote there without telling the reader what the hell you’re talking about.

    This is John McPOW’s Three Aye Em moment and it ain’t pretty.

    If your opponent is of choleric temper, seek to irritate him. Pretend to be weak, that he may grow arrogant.

    If he is taking his ease, give him no rest. If his forces are united, separate them.

    Attack him where he is unprepared, appear where you are not expected.

    These military devices, leading to victory, must not be divulged beforehand.

    Word.

  7. 7.

    Steve V

    Portray him as a classic country club republican. BTW, is he a member of any country clubs?

  8. 8.

    BFR

    McCain is really a very, very lousy candidate.

    During the primary season, I wondered why it was that the GOP leadershipo opposed McCain so viscerally. Now I know.

    He’s really, really not good at this and Schmidt can only put so much lipstick on that pig.

  9. 9.

    Splitting Image

    Oopsie.

    Did the McCain camp just say that Keating is “fair game”?

    Sounded like they did, didn’t it?

    I’d be perfectly willing to admit that the Rezko affair is worse for Obama than Keating is for McCain, simply because of the time each one happened, if there were any evidence that McCain learned his lesson.

    Does anyone happen to have some evidence that McCain has learned his lesson?

  10. 10.

    Jake

    Someone like Biden should really chime in and say “Every sentence from McCain’s campaign contains a noun, a verb, and POW.”

    I’m not sure they appreciate the peril of giftwrapping his time as a POW into a punchline.

  12. 12.

    cain

    Hey, I heard on NPR that Russia is moving forward with an arms deal for Syria. Looks like the cold war is on, it’s probably why troops are gettin out of Iraq. They got themselves a new devil..

    cain

  14. 14.

    capelza

    Steve V

    Truth be told, I miss the country club Republican…the ones who were kicked to the curb by the foaming at the mouth Neocon/Bible Thumper crowd.

    I don’t think that’d play as well as you might think.

    But “A noun, a verb, P.O.W.” works for me…

  15. 15.

    Ed Drone

    Seven-House John

    Every morning at the Senate, you could see him arrive.
    He stood 5 foot 8, weighed 245.
    Ferragamo shoes, cost 500 bucks,
    And everybody knew you were out of luck with Big John.

    Big John
    Big John
    Seven-House John

    Nobody seemed to know where John called home;
    Not even him, when you asked him all alone.
    ”I really don’t know how many houses I’ve got,
    But all them furriners oughta be shot!” says Big John.
    He partied while the storm swamped New Orleans,
    Always ready to fight, and to act real mean.
    If you want a change in the way this country’s run,
    Big John will call you names, saying, “Reach for your gun.” – Big John

    Big John
    Big John
    Seven-House John

    Old John thinks you’re poor if you don’t make a killin’
    And only middle class till you reach five million.
    Multiple houses, multiple planes,
    Multiple positions, that’s John McCain.
    Calls himself a maverick, like he’s his own man,
    But right there on his flank is the “W” brand.
    Kissed up to the crew that slandered his name,
    And even hired ‘em on to help run his own game – Big John.

    Big John
    Big John
    Seven-House John

    There came the day when the bottom fell out,
    When the economy cracked and folks started to shout.
    Mortgage foreclosures, and the banks a-failing,
    But John says the country is in for smooth sailing.
    For the people whose houses are on the block,
    Old John’s got just one solution in stock –
    Give the rich another tax-break, and your troubles are fixed,
    What’s losing a house, when you’ve got another six? – Big John.

    Big John
    Big John
    Seven-House John

    Now I don’t want to call him a worthless old twit,
    Out of touch at home, and lacking in wit,
    These few words are enough about this man,
    ‘When it comes right down to it, he ain’t worth a damn.’ – Big John.

    Big John
    Big John
    Seven-House John

    © 2008 Ed Drone & Bob Clayton

  16. 16.

    JL

    The POW issue is important and his spokesman is right to bring up his stay at the Hanoi Hilton. Finally somebody links his memory losses to his time when he was a POW. I always thought that it was just a senior moment but I guess the campaign wants to link it to his being a POW.

  17. 17.

    SpotWeld

    It gets better, did you see how they wrapped it up:

    “In terms of who’s an elitist, I think people have made a judgment that John McCain is not an arugula-eating, pointy headed professor-type based on his life story.”

    If that isn’t a textbook example of “if you can dazzle them with brilliance, confuse them with BS”, I don’t know what is.

    Besides, maybe McCain should eat more arugula. A little more fiber in his diet might make him less cranky.

    If I was stranded on a tropic island I’d much rather be stuck with the professor than the Skipper and (whoever he picks to be) Gilligan.

  18. 18.

    Eric

    “The reality is they have some investment properties and stuff. It’s not as if he lives in ten houses. That’s just not the case,” Rogers said. “The reality is they have four that actually could be considered houses they could use.”

    Ha ha ha…fucking fail, that was the weakest comeback in history. What the hell happened? Is everybody at McCain HQ drunk today?

  19. 19.

    Steve V

    Capelza,

    It might play OK during good times, but I think it ain’t bad during hard times. I’d think the image of McCain sitting around in the country club he just flew to in his private jet, sitting around smoking cigars with the Michael Milkens of the world is a pretty powerful one for this economic climate. Throw in the image of him smiling with that cake while Katrina’s hitting NO too.

  21. 21.

    Teak111

    About f-ing time Obama started to counter punch. And clearly McCain has a glass chin. Need to see more Bush is McCain ads. 911 is coming up, anniversary of Katrina as well. These should be used to hammer home the fact that McCain and Bush are the same.

    Obama should not let Amer forget it. If you vote for McCain you are voting for 4 more years of Bush.

    Attack, attack, attack. Take the initiative, take the fight to McCain. Now is the time to be testing narratives as well. Throw the kitchen sink at them and see what sticks.

    Expose McCain for what he is or what we want him to appear to be, an egotistical old man whose rich and of touch with the economic pain america is feeling. Does he know anything about the credit crisis or forclosure problems?

    Obams need to let his 527s loose as well.

    Look, nobody ever lost an election going negative.

  22. 22.

    jake

    It’s only four houses people! One for each year he spent in … er …

    Well, he’s going to buy another one with the money he didn’t spend on arugula!

  23. 23.

    Tom

    What makes this doubly fun to watch, is that the right wingers have been pushing Obama’s “do you know how much arugula costs these days?” comment (which, I’m assuming was said with tongue in cheek) as proof that he is an elitist.

    Now, they’re forced to defend a candidate who’s truly exposed himself as someone in the elite economic bracket who really can’t relate to how people are struggling in this economy.

    Obama may be well off, but he’s come from a background of partially relying on food stamps as a kid and working with and living among inner city poor as an adult.

    McCain just revealed who the real elitist is in this election. Obama really needs to play up this angle. With an economy like it is today, do you want someone who can’t remember how many houses he owns working on your behalf, or someone who has a track recording of trying to help Americans in the lower economic bracket get ahead?

  24. 24.

    snoey

    I was in Hyde Park last spring for our daughter’s graduation from the local institution, so of course we had to drive down that street.

    Nice place, but no mansion and certainly not going to make Architectural Digest anytime soon. Lawn needed mowing and the shrubs could stand a pruning too. Two minivans with darkened windows and lots of antennae were parked outside, so we didn’t give it a more thorough look-see.

  25. 25.

    smiley

    This deal is the most heavily covered thing I’ve seen on memeorandum in quite a while. Let’s hope it has legs.

    The whole Ayers/Obama/UIC library matter? Not so much… Can you say “Whitey tape?

  27. 27.

    Socraticsilence

    Steve V. –

    Member of any country clubs, please, John doesn’t need to be a member he just has Cindy buy the club.

  28. 28.

    JL

    McCain just revealed who the real elitist is in this election. Obama really needs to play up this angle. With an economy like it is today, do you want someone who can’t remember how many houses he owns working on your behalf, or someone who has a track recording of trying to help Americans in the lower economic bracket get ahead?

    McCain doesn’t even know where al-qaeda is getting its training and funding. Now if he doesn’t know the enemy, who’s he gonna shoot and you know he wants to so how tough he is?

  30. 30.

    myiq2xu

    About f-ing time Obama started to counter punch.

    It’s not a “counter punch” when you swing first, miss, and get punched in the junk by the other guy.

  31. 31.

    The Other Steve

    Nice place, but no mansion and certainly not going to make Architectural Digest anytime soon. Lawn needed mowing and the shrubs could stand a pruning too. Two minivans with darkened windows and lots of antennae were parked outside, so we didn’t give it a more thorough look-see.

    So you didn’t get a sneak peak at the countertops, I take it?

  33. 33.

    Don

    You have a mansion you bought in a shady deal with a convicted felon.

    I would think one of the Keating Five wouldn’t be so eager to open up this whole “you worked with a guilty person” line of conversation.

    In 1982, during McCain’s first run for the House, Keating held a fund-raiser for him, collecting more than $11,000 from 40 employees of American Continental Corp. McCain would spend more than $550,000 to win the primary and the general election.

    In 1983, as McCain contemplated his House re-election, Keating hosted a $1,000-a-plate dinner for him, even though McCain had no serious competition. When McCain pushed for the Senate in 1986, Keating was there with more than $50,000.

    By 1987, McCain had received about $112,000 in political contributions from Keating and his associates.

    McCain also had carried a little water for Keating in Washington. While in the House, McCain, along with a majority of representatives, co-sponsored a resolution to delay new regulations designed to curb risky investments by thrifts such as Lincoln.

  34. 34.

    Dave

    Only four homes…that’s one hell of a defense.

    I can’t wait for Rudy Giuliani to introduce McCain in St. Paul. The whole evening will be “9-11, POW, 9-11, POW!!!”

  35. 35.

    Socraticsilence

    myiq2xu-

    Seriously, am I crazy or did you used to be reasonably smart, I mean before you started huffing paint with the other Hillhadi’s, because seriously, this is a HR of an issue, this is one of those things that can kill a canidacy because it works on 2 levels and undermines McCain’s strengths-
    1)Makes him appear out of touch
    2) On a slightly subtler level makes him appear to be a senile.

  36. 36.

    JGabriel

    Michael Shear @ WaPo:

    Rogers vowed to intensify efforts to link Obama to Rezko in the coming days.

    “That’s fair game now,” he said. “You are going to see more of that now that this issue has been joined. You’ll see more of the Rezko matter from us.”

    Looks like it’s time to dust off Charles Keating. Throw a little more of the spotlight on McCain’s role in the Abramoff scandals. Maybe some general attacks on Reublican scandals, hypocrisy, and incompetence in general – closing with a gentle reminder that McCain is a Republican. Of course, Rezko’s co-chairing of a 2003 multi-million dollar fundraiser for George Bush should get prominent mention there, as well as Rezko’s ties to Republican former governors George Ryan and Jim Edgar, and co-indictee Republican fundraiser Stuart Levine.

    If McCain really wants to go there, Obama should use Rezko to attack hard on the general theme of Republican corruption.

    And what is McCain’s voting record on alcohol regulation issues, or other issues that would affect Cindy’s business interests? Seems like there should be some fodder there for political attacks – hopefully the Obama team has someone doing oppo research on that already.

    .

  38. 38.

    binzinerator

    “The reality is they have four that actually could be considered houses they could use.”

    So the other three are totally useless to them. Riiight.

    Oh, wait, it’s not that they’re useless, it’s just that they’re only worth a measly million and therefore they couldn’t possibly consider using them.

    Obviously for the rich the cutoff for a livable house also begins at $5 million.

  39. 39.

    Kevin

    Yeah, you have one guy talking about Arugula to farmers…who happened to farm arugula (I know, what an elitist! He should have talked to them about cotton!)

    And then you have a guy who needs his staff to count his houses.

    I wonder which is elite.

    As for Rezko, given that there was nothing at all illegal in the deal, and given McCain’s past and present involvement with shady characters (Keating, Reid), I think Obama can easily win that round.

  40. 40.

    JL

    On a slightly subtler level makes him appear to be a senile.

    Afterall he was tortured and did you know he was a POW?

  41. 41.

    PK

    Only 4 homes and the rest is investment properties etc. Poor McCain. He’s almost a pauper.
    You know the justifications alone are going to be good for a couple of ads.

  43. 43.

    JL

    So how many pairs of Ferragamo shoes does he own? Yeah, I know but he doesn’t eat arugula or does he?

  44. 44.

    Ivan Ivanovich Renko

    If I was stranded on a tropic island I’d much rather be stuck with the professor than the Skipper and (whoever he picks to be) Gilligan.

    Win.

  45. 45.

    Brachiator

    He also added: “This is a guy who lived in one house for five and a half years—in prison,” referring to the prisoner of war camp that McCain was in during the Vietnam War.

    I remember mocking Kerry in 2004, ending almost every post with “BTW- did you know Kerry was in Vietnam?” because the references were inserted in everything he said and did. McCain is even worse than Kerry with the gratuitous references.

    This is slightly different than the Kerry thing. There is for some people and kind of gentleman’s agreement to accept much of McCain’s actions – engaging in affairs, dumping his first wife for a hotter, wealthy, younger woman, acquiring multiple homes, etc. — as a kind of reward for his service and sacrifice as a POW.

    At a certain point, the average person might say “enough,” but McCain is going to be allowed a certain degree of leeway here.

    There is also a similarity with Hillary Clinton here. Just as there are some who evidently felt that being a smart former First Lady automatically qualified Clinton to be president, there are some who believe that being a war hero POW automatically makes McCain presidential.

  46. 46.

    jibeaux

    Further, some state parties will hold contests in which Democrats seek out real voters who don’t know how many houses they own.

    That really, really, has the potential to be fun. I would think that to the extent these people exist, they are slumlords or folks with mid-to-late stage Alzheimer’s. McCain’s other base!

    BTW, I recommend the latest Onion News video podcast, which breaks down polling demographics into categories like “Asian Mathematics majors who live over restaurants”. Funny stuff.

  47. 47.

    Kevin

    get punched in the junk by the other guy.

    myiq really does have a fixation on testicles, doesn’t he?

  48. 48.

    bago

    It’s not a “counter punch” when you swing first, miss, and get punched in the junk by the other guy.

    Uhm, in every fighting game I’ve ever played, that’s pretty much the definition of a counter.

  49. 49.

    binzinerator

    “The reality is they have some investment properties and stuff. It’s not as if he lives in ten houses. That’s just not the case,” Rogers said. “The reality is they have four that actually could be considered houses they could use.”

    God this is all just too fucking funny.

    “It’s not as if he lives in ten houses.”

    No, fucktard, the issue is that he owns seven of them.

    And he doesn’t live in them, he uses them. Funny how McCain looks at his collection of houses as things he uses. Most folks (and even a lot of those middle class types who make only $3 million) don’t use their house, they live in their house.

  51. 51.

    Gus

    I think this mocking of Kerry was funny:
    “Kerry Unveils One-Point Plan For Better America”

    Actually, I think that could have been a winning platform.

  52. 52.

    lou

    Here is the press’ attitude in a nutshell.

    This is in response to a query from a reader downplaying the fact that McCain has multiple houses and how the Dems are trying to make a big deal of it. Paul Kane replies:

    ….At this point in his national political career McCain is not going to be transformed into a super rich elitist. He’s just not, the voters won’t buy it. It has the potential to reinforce questions about his age, I guess.

  53. 53.

    jibeaux

    get punched in the junk by the other guy.

    Now, is he punching because he’s too short to kick, or because he’s worried about breaking his hip?

  54. 54.

    chopper

    it’s not like he lives in ten houses. It’s like four, seven tops. Of course his estate in Sedona is actually six houses on one property.

  55. 55.

    PeterJ

    McCain uses the fact that he was a POW like Guiliani used 9/11. McCain got POW tourettes.

    It’s time for the MSM to call him on it. But I guess they will only say that his POW tourettes is just because he was a POW and that we should all leave him alone…

    Imaging if Clinton used her gender everytime she got attacked? Or if Obama always used the color of his skin to deflect any attacks or gaffes?

  56. 56.

    Jim

    I only wish the Obama Ad had worked in the private plane that the McCains owns to tool around Arizona. I do agree with lou above though that the press, if they make much of this at all, will have McCain’s back.

  57. 57.

    flyerhawk

    So apparently Rezko is NOW fair game? Before their sense of decency restrained them from using Rezko? Well they gotta do what they gotta do.

    Of course I’m not a 100% sure that John McCain really wants to bring up ghosts of corruptions past especially when Obama didn’t do anything wrong and McCain, well……

  58. 58.

    Zuzu's Petals

    “The reality is they have some investment properties and stuff. It’s not as if he lives in ten houses. That’s just not the case,” Rogers said. “The reality is they have four that actually could be considered houses they could use.”

    Well of course, one of ’em is a SECOND condo they bought so the kids could use the other one:

    TPM

    Just about the time McCain was noticing that some folks were “working at second jobs” and “skipping a vacation” in order to make mortgage payments on time.

  59. 59.

    Bill Arnold

    from grape_crush, in comment section on some Time Magazine blog:

    “My friends, noun-verb-POW…”

  60. 60.

    Conservatively Liberal

    myiq2xu GoatBoy Says:

    It’s not a “counter punch” when you swing first, miss, and get punched in the junk by the other guy.

    myiq really does have a fixation on testicles, doesn’t he?

    I too have noticed that in his last few posts, myiq2xu GoatBoy has been fixated on Obama’s “junk”.

    This obsession about Obama’s testicles makes me wonder, maybe myiq2xu GoatBoy is Jesse Jackson?

  62. 62.

    binzinerator

    OMG. I forgot how many houses I own.

    Waitasec. Now I remember.

    I own just one.

    But not really. Because I didn’t have the cash upfront to pay for all of it. So I had to borrow. So I actually own about 10% of one house.

    And I ask, who the fuck doesn’t know how many houses they own? Or how much of a mortgage they have?

    Don’t give me a guy who bitches about elitism while owning 7 houses.

    And don’t give me anyone who can’t remember how many houses he owns. Such a person is either disgustingly elitist and out of touch, or simply senile.

    And yes, this whole thing really sets me steams me up. If goopers spoke the truth every day, a mob of ordinary people would be tar and feathering them every weekend.

  63. 63.

    Notorious P.A.T.

    McCain is really a very, very lousy candidate.

    He’s really, really not good at this and Schmidt can only put so much lipstick on that pig.

    Yeah. Good think that “only” 40-48% of this country are stupid enough to vote for him.

  64. 64.

    carsick

    It’s instructive to remember this little bit from John McCain’s very first political campaign:

    “Listen, pal. I spent 22 years in the Navy. My grandfather was in the Navy. We in the military service tend to move a lot. We have to live in all parts of the country, all parts of the world. I wish I could have had the luxury, like you, of growing up and living and spending my entire life in a nice place like the first district of Arizona, but I was doing other things. As a matter of fact, when I think about it now, the place I lived longest in my life was Hanoi.”

    The late Phoenix Gazette political columnist John Kolbe is quoted in Timberg’s book as calling McCain’s brusque answer “the most devastating response to a potentially troublesome political issue I’ve ever heard.”

    McCain recalls in Worth the Fighting For: “Looking back, I think the race was effectively over right then. I had stunned the audience and finally put to rest the one nagging vulnerability that was still clouding my prospects. But I didn’t know that then. I was just mad and had taken a swing.”

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