Not sure if you caught Walnuts on CNN this morning, but he was just sputtering mad and gave one of the most disjointed appearances I have seen in a long time. Apparently McCain is just hopping mad that after he and Sen. Kyl ran around popping off at the mouth that the stimulus has failed, several cabinet secretaries wrote letters to Arizona’s governor asking if Arizona would like to stop receiving funds. After all, the two Senators have claimed it has failed, surely Arizona does not want to take money that will just be wasted.
This was some horrible breach, and really had McCain confused and upset. You see, for the last decade or so, he has been able to say whatever he wants, and no one tried to correct him. Obviously, this development is quite a shock for him.
cleek
is there a pasture he can be put out to?
kid bitzer
good. i would like to see obama’s crew throw a lot more brush-backs like this.
A Mom Anon
What a whiner.
IndieTarheel
Grandstanding clown is butthurt because he was wrong. Again.
Fleem
@cleek:
I hope so, because he looks so cute against a green background.
jon
As an Arizonan, I know that our state budget has been well funded by sales and property taxes quite successfully during the bubble years. And as a realist, I knew the good times would have to end eventually. Having a Republican-controlled legislature in Arizona that would rather teabag a bear trap than raise additional taxes only adds to the fun. The Lege even refuse to give the voters the opportunity to vote for a tax increase, since the GOP doesn’t even believe their tax dogma/bullshit anymore.
I haven’t seen the exact numbers, but on a people-to-dollar basis, Arizonans have no reason to look to California to feel better about themselves. Just as with every year and every budget, if not for the Federal Government money we’d be broke. That’s true for many of the states that claim to be fiscally responsible and “conservative”, but call them on it and they’ll howl with outrage and start looking nervous about their scam getting revealed.
PeakVT
I’m still digging this McCain smackdown.
Kevin K.
Well, John, McCain’s people must’ve thought he did a pretty peachy job this morning because they posted a video of his appearance to his YouTube page.
R-Jud
@Fleem: You win the internets!
matt
…several cabinet secretaries wrote letters to Arizona’s governor asking if Arizona would like to stop receiving funds. After all, the two Senators have claimed it has failed, surely Arizona does not want to take money that will just be wasted.
That’s one of the greatest things I’ve ever heard. Not sure why McCain is going on tv to keep this story alive, but awesome.
JenJen
Sorry I missed it. I was watching Morning Joe, which has been quite fascinating this morning. Among the highlights:
1. Mark Halperin insists America still “overwhelmingly a center-right country.”
2. Donny Deutsch says “Tax me! I’m loaded!” while Mika, Joe, Halperin and Tina Brown recoil in horror.
3. Michael Steele has four-point economic recovery plan that is sure to work! Involves Tax Cuts and Tort Reform. Still working on other two points.
4. Consensus among GOP: Obama Presidency has Failed.
And we still have a half-hour to go!!
matt
..and aside from it being great politics, it’s actually a decent question.
2th&nayle
John, you know it’s not nice to make fun of the mentally infirmed. Somebody get Uncle John back in his chair and roll him out to the sun deck. I’ll bring a blanket and a valium. He’ll be O.K. once he calms down. He was a P.O.W. ya know.
Persia
@matt: Dude, I know. It’s beautiful. Did McCain name names, so I can write them fan mail?
geg6
@JenJen:
Much as I can’t stand his smug attitude, Donnie Deutsch has been pretty damn good about smacking down the most jaw-droppingly stupid garbage whenever I catch him on Morning Joe with Joe “I Know Nothing About That Dead Intern in My Office” Scarborough and Mika “I Prove Intelligence Isn’t Genetic” Brzezinski. And then he laughs his incredibly smug laugh at the resulting outrage. It makes me like him a little.
cleek
watching cable news talk shows is like watching pretty people read the comments thread on a not-very-good blog. what’s the point ?
Comrade Jake
I think there would be some comic justice if the networks decided that instead of having McCain on to answer these types of questions, it would be more interesting to get Sarah Palin’s take. McCain gave us Palin. The networks should take the gift.
JenJen
@geg6: I’ve always kinda-sorta like Deutsch. He’s a PR Whiz/Ad Guy, so he can only be trusted so far, you know? But gawd, his perspective is so refreshing after listening to the exact same bullshit Conventional Wisdom banter for hours upon end.
cd6
Captain Ed had his panties all in a twist about how this was the Obama administration “threatening” the state of Arizona.
Because Obama is a gangster, see?
IndieTarheel
@jon:
This is so full of win, it’s leaking.
amk
LOL. Love the new kid on the block running circles around these old & clueless busters and blusterers.
Senyordave
I guess I was delusional. I truly thought after the election that McCain might want to try to slip into the role of an elder statesman of the opposition party. I assumed he knew he screwed up royally with the Palin pick, and would attempt to redeem himself by helping providing responsible opposition to the administration proposals (of course this assumed the GOP would actually have a proposal of their own).
Alas, I was naive. McCain’s legacy will be Sarah Palin. I hope she torments his sleep for the rest of his years, a constant reminder of how shallow a man he was.
Comrade Jake
BTW, I think “Walnuts” has to be my favorite McCain nickname. My friend.
Jasper
I liked the ease with which McCain lied about Arizona being a net federal tax donor state. Arizona, like almost all red states, is a welfare state when it comes to federal taxes, taking handouts from wealthy elitist socialist blue states on the coasts.
Tom65
I love this; this is how Dems should treat the GOP toddlers. You don’t want it? Fine, we’ll find another use for it.
MikeJ
I think I understand. Washington rules say that whoever is on the attack is winning and if you have to smack down stories from the opposition, you’re losing.
The GOP has a fundamental problem figuring out who is on the attack here. They think they are when in fact they got jujitsu’ed.
I play chess. I’ve always said that figuring out the next move is easy. The hard part is looking at a position and deciding who has the advantage. If you do that better than your opponent you will always win.
ronin122
@cleek: I am torn as to whether I’d rather it read from a youtube video comment thread. On one hand it would be more interesting with all the “n00b f@g” remarks, and you’d actually get a smackdown on the GOP and wingnut talking points once in a while. On the other, it does somehow find a way to lower the discourse even further, though the more Republicans you have on TV the less you notice.
Trinity
@cleek: Win!
Punchy
He’s just mad he missed the Erin Andrews vid before it got intertube-scrubbed.
MattF
McCain is loving it, he’s in his favorite environment– the endorphin rush, the cameras, the maverickyness,
the facts. Oops.someguy
Any senator criticizes the stimulus – which is the law of the land – should have their state’s federal funds taken away. You don’t bite the hand that feeds you.
Nicole
Thanks for the link to the interview. What made me really crackers was him repeating that Arizona pays more in tax dollars than they receive. I checked taxfoundation.org’s latest stats (2005) and Arizona received $1.19 for every $1.00 it paid. So he’s either a moron who can’t read a chart or he’s just a blatant liar. It took me 30 seconds of googling to find that stat, but he’ll continue to insist that Arizona is not vacuum sucking at the federal nipple and no one will call him on it.
sparky
@MikeJ: good point but i think your analogy is off. the MO here is to capitalize on irrationality not rational thinking. so the plan is to just throw pretty much everything against the wall and hope that something sticks. if you look back over the last 40-odd years, a fair observer would be compelled to say that as a strategy it’s worked pretty damn well. i am assuming here that the only goal is winning at any price.
sparky
@someguy: did i miss the memo that said criticism of the federal government was a crime?
someguy
Hey, what’s the problem Sparky? Isn’t that what several cabinet secretaries just threatened to do? I thought we were down with that.
It’s called hardball. You don’t like it, go play beanbag.
Comrade Jake
@Punchy:
Well, Fox News has picked up that story now. So yeah.
Napoleon
I loved that Obama did this to McCain. It was perfect.
Ron
Wow, just watched the video on YouTube (you REALLY wanted that out there, Senator???) It’s pretty bad, but I think the best moment was where in the same breath he talks about how the money will be useful but it’s a failure. Epic FAIL.
Napoleon
PS, what is actually better though is that Rick Perry in Texas rejected a boat load of money and now that Texas is in worst shape then he expected he has asked the feds for a loan of that same money he rejected to make up the shortfall.
Epic fall.
slip
Shorter McCain:
Pete Domenici privately pressuring the New Mexico DA to bring in indictments before an election = a cabinet secretary openly responding to a public request by a senator to kill a funding program.
Bob In Pacifica
Senyordave: “I guess I was delusional. I truly thought after the election that McCain might want to try to slip into the role of an elder statesman of the opposition party.” — He is being the elder statesman. But these days the GOP is like a psych ward, and the elder statesman is just the guy who’s been hospitalized the longest.
McCain has to realize that he stepped on it, but he and his handlers must think that he can still baffle ’em with bullshit. Beyond the twenty-percenters, this falls on deaf ears. It also can’t help the the GOP with the good people of Arizona. Rhetoric has been smacked down by reality.
Of course, Cali is in a deathspin, held hostage by a minority of legislators and a washed-up actor. As one wag put it, Schwarzeneggar actually was sent from the future to destroy us.
sparky
@someguy: no, i don’t have a problem with politics. but the way you phrased your first statement was a bit too broad. and no i don’t agree with the “politics ain’t beanbag” notion. that’s straight out of the Rove playbook. crap is crap whichever side does it.
just so we’re clear: this (calling someone on their own BS) is not a dirty trick.
Shygetz
@someguy: The cabinet secretaries didn’t threaten to do anything. They asked, oh so politely, if Arizona would prefer to not receive the money since it’s such a big waste. If that’s how you threaten people, you’re doing it wrong.
WereBear
This whole asking Arizona if it’s true they don’t want the money any more is both brilliant… and, let’s face it, durn obvious.
Having the gall to call the GOP on their blatant idiocy… priceless.
C’mon, blue dog Dems and spineless cable commentators. Is this so hard to do?
someguy
Sparky and Shygetz, sure, it’s not a threat.
Mighty nice business you got here. It’d be a shame if anything ever happened to it.
The Grand Panjandrum
I believe it was ThymeZone who pointed out a year or two ago that McCain was one of the worst candidates ever. That seemed a bit strong to me, although I was convinced he was less to the eye than appeared in the media. As the glaring light of the Presidential campaign focused on McCain, not only was TZ proved right, but that the criticism offered was spot on. John McCain will always be the guy who picked Palin to be his VP candidate. That is EPIC FAIL by any rational standard. This new temper tantrum provides another data point confirming that he is, in fact, a blubbering fool.
2th&nayle
@Bob In Pacifica: Well I’m not a Californian, nor do I play one on tv, but otherwise…What you said!
Anton Sirius
@cleek:
In CNN’s case, that’s not even an analogy.
Anton Sirius
@Senyordave:
When McCain dreams of Palin, he needs to change the sheets.
The Grand Panjandrum
@cleek:
I’m stealing that.
Barry
“McCain has to realize that he stepped on it, but he and his handlers must think that he can still baffle ‘em with bullshit. Beyond the twenty-percenters, this falls on deaf ears. It also can’t help the the GOP with the good people of Arizona. Rhetoric has been smacked down by reality.”
When one has had a long and (until 2008) successful career slinging the BS, it’s got to be extremely hard to give up the BS-slinging. McCain will keep it up; he probably can’t do anything other than that.
In addition, if things go to sh*t, Obama’s out in 2012, and McCain can say that he helped.
If things don’t go to sh*t, Obama wins re-election, and McCain’s footnote becomes even smaller.
Either way, McCain might as well sling the BS.
sparky
@The Grand Panjandrum: yes, exactly so. in that sense i suppose his picking Palin makes some sense–they both are astounding failures who managed to catapult themselves up to an alarming level of influence despite their uninterrupted string of flops. Blago was perhaps the equivalent on the D side.
Adrienne
@someguy: But that’s not what they said.
They simply asked Arizona officials if they would like to stop receiving the stimulus money that their representatives in the Senate believe is a waste. McCain and Kyl are just being WATB’s about it. It forced Arizona state officials to publicly choose btw their constituents (and by extension, Obama) and other members of their party and it’s bloody brilliant. I mean, Kyl and McCain weren’t just talking bad about the stimulus, they said it was such a colossal failure that it should be cancelled, so ipso facto they shouldn’t take any more funds.
Bottom line: Politics ain’t beanbag and threats, if you can even call what they did a threat, are part of the fucking territory.
Shygetz
@someguy: Yeah, because random cabinet secretary has the authority to cut off a state’s money unilaterally. Jesus, don’t they teach Civics to our kids any more?
The letters were meant to be public embarrassments to McCain and Kyl. And they’re working. The proper analogy isn’t a gangster making veiled threats against a businessman. It’s more like walking into your church’s front office and loudly saying “Hey Pastor, your gay pornography accidentally got delivered to my house. Should I just put it down here next to the picture of your wife?”
GregB
John McCain is not bright enough to assume the role of elder statesman.
He could be a serious leader, buck his party and lead a small group of sensible conservatives out of the kookie forest, but he’s just an effing 15 inside a shriveled old body.
Ben Button McCain.
-G
demimondian
@Shygetz: And the nice thing about living in a blue state is that my pastor might respond “No, please. It’s a birthday present for him — and I prefer that you call him my husband, not my wife.”
Dennis-SGMM
@Bob In Pacifica:
The governator announced a tentative budget agreement. Our $26Bn deficit will be addressed by $16Bn in spending cuts to education, health and social services. The rest will be made up with accounting gimmicks and by withholding funds from County governments. California state employees will continue to have three unpaid furlough days per month through June, 2010. There are no tax increases or other revenue enhancements, just larger classes, fewer teachers, higher fees for state colleges and university students (And fewer admissions for them), fewer people with even minimal healthcare and more crazy people wandering the streets.
In other words: a Republican paradise.
Montysano
FWIW: one of our customers, a state university, called yesterday and said they suddenly had $100K of stimulus money to spend, and that they wanted to take all legal avenues to make sure it got spent with a local company. For a small company like ours, one that is seriously on the rocks, this is good news….. and not good news for that dimwitted shameless cocksucker John McCain.
Comrade Darkness
@Shygetz: Coffee warning, please!
@demimondian: … this week. Next week is my turn.
maya
What’s really upsetting the Arizona Ace is that he still can’t get an invite to be on theThe View that allows him ” to frame the conversation as [he] really want[s] to.”
Dennis-SGMM
@maya:
McCain remains modest about being an Ace inasmuch as the title was conferred on him by North Vietnam for destroying five of our aircraft.
GregB
an effing 15 year old….
Svensker
@Shygetz:
Heh.
David
NRA not conservative enough for Erick Erickson; headline at Redstate:
“National Rifle Association Totally Capitulates on Sotomayor”
Ron
@Nicole: I found that too (though I think what I found was the 2004 stat of $1.30 per dollar). I’d be willing to bet that nobody at CNN will bother to fact check McCain.
The Grand Panjandrum
@Dennis-SGMM: Ouch!
jibeaux
watching cable news talk shows is like watching pretty people read the comments thread on a not-very-good blog. what’s the point ?
That’s why I come here, to cut out the middleprettymen.
Redhand
BTW, I think “Walnuts” has to be my favorite McCain nickname. My friend.
As in “Paulie Walnuts” or that his cheeks looked packed with them, like a squirrel? He certainly has the IQ of one.
maya
Jon McCain has lost it. On the slippery downslope side of his career he couldn’t win a debate with Tunch.
But then, few men can.
ThymeZoneThePlumber
@Nicole:
helps explain why AZ receives more federal money than it pays in. The federal government owns or operates most of the state.
ThymeZoneThePlumber
@ThymeZoneThePlumber:
Oh well, my handmade link didn’t work.
here’s the url
epa.gov/region09/tribal/mapaz.pdf
J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford
@Redhand:
As in “Paulie Walnuts” or that his cheeks looked packed with them, like a squirrel? He certainly has the IQ of one.
As in Walnuts!
youtube.com/watch?v=3X8dLXvqu8k
(Hey – where did the html formatting buttons go?)
matoko_chan
Bobby Jindal got ganked on CNN this morning too.
The anchor greeted him with why-do-you-think-you-have n/e thing to say when your state ranks dead last in healthcare issues out of 50 states. Then the anchor sliced and diced every GOP talking point Jindal spewed forth with actual quotes and data, and finished up with a parting shot referring to Jindal hiding out since his awful speech at Obama’s inaugration.
“Nice to see you [finally] making public appearances [again]. Come back anytime [for another asswhuppin’]”
lol
My favorite McCain nickname is Sick Grandpa in Lifters.
Adrienne
@matoko_chan: Pretty please post the video!!!
bob h
The stimulus has so utterly failed that the economy probably stopped shrinking in June.
azlib
As an Arizonian this one was fun to watch. The letter was more a shot across the bow to Kyl and McCain to watch what they criticize, since AZ is heavily dependent on Federal largess. Even the wacky legislature is using stimulus money to try and balance the budget.
What is truly ironic is AZ would not be where it is today without massive federal aid in the form of the Central Arizona Project which brought a lot of water to the Phoenix and Tucson area and made it possible to grow a metropolis in the desert.
AZ growth is essentially driven by real estate and tourism. Both these industries tanked big time on the past two years which is why the state is in such a budget fix. We forgot to diversify our industrial base.
Common Sense
@Napoleon:
What makes the best part even better is that the money Rick Perry wanted to reject was used to rebuild his house. No stimulus and the governor of Texas is basically homeless.
chopper
@Ron:
yeah, obama called his bluff and he freaked out. man, this shit is entertaining.
Dennis-SGMM
California budget update:
Details of the budget deal are emerging slowly, which makes sense because it’s nothing that anyone should be proud of. Nine billion of the fifteen billion in cuts are to education. Sixty percent of the cuts are being enacted on forty percent of the budget. That will help us build the educated workforce that we need to compete in the years ahead.
cbear
@Dennis-SGMM: Awesome!
Ash
For all those people who say they like Donny Deutsch, just remember that he’s the asshole that said this:
A couple of acquaintances at Deutsch (the agency) even quit over it.
Kathy in St. Louis
I smell Rahm Emanuel all over this one. Good for our team. Sanford pulled the same crap, as did Palin. I am surprised any of the GOP Senators can even find a seat in the grandstand, it’s so full of their governor brothers and sisters.
Cain
@David:
NRA not conservative enough for Erick Erickson; headline at Redstate:
“National Rifle Association Totally Capitulates on Sotomayor”
Oh man, I wonder what the commentators are going to react to that. “OMG, the NRA is not protecting our gun rights?! Aieeee!” This should be pretty entertaining, but I can’t stand to go to Red State. It’s just too much epic fail for me.
cain
Kathy in St. Louis
Bob in Pacifica @ 41. I am wondering why a 72 year old Senator with no political future beyond the senate HAS handlers. When McCain ran last fall, I was struck by the fact that this guy doesn’t think he’s ever going to die, retire, leave the stage of public life….nothing. John McCain may have been a war hero, may have, at one time, served well in the Senate (debatable), but they are never going to get him off stage. At this point, he’s sort of making an ass of himself.
JenJen
@Ash: Fair enough, but lots of our media figures were mesmerized by Sparkly Pony Palin. Their current worth can better be judged by whether they are capable of learning, I think.
When Palin announced she was going to be a Dead Quitty Fish earlier this month, Donny Deutsch was the only person on “Morning Joe” being overtly critical toward her decision…which led to Mika Brzezinski telling Deutsch he just didn’t understand how “real America” thinks. :-)
matoko_chan
I can’t find the Jindal video yet, but heres text.
lol
SixStringFanatic
@matoko_chan:
“Some people out there might be wondering if you’re the best person to be criticizing the administration’s plans for health care reform?”
So, we know John Roberts is a Republican; now we know he’s not a Bobby Jindal Republican, right?
Ed Drone
Of one which? A nut, or a squirrel?
Ed
asiangrrlMN
@Fleem:
Best damn statement of the day.
Mike G
McAngry is the spoilt son and grandson of Admirals, with a self-entitlement complex to match. He’s used to spouting off garbage unchallenged with deference shown by all around him, by dint of his Navy-royalty ‘authoritah’ and POW martyrdom. He would have made a hideous President, a dim-witted, non-thinking hot-headed jerk intolerant of dissent, like Chimp with more anger. On the downhill slope to senile dementia.
TenguPhule
May? He was never a hero. He destroyed more American planes then most enemy fighter pilots ever did in their careers.
Tiger Tom
If you live in Arizona you know that it is full of old angry voters who are kept alive by Medicare and buy food with Social Security. Yet, they vote Republican time after time, and elect people who hate Medicare and curse FDR for Social Security.
freelancer
Any chance Uncle Pat will decry McCain’s illustrious career as White Affirmative Action aka Nepotism?
SrirachaHotSauce
@Tiger Tom:
Yes, I call those people “neighbors.”
Neighbor Bob, across the street, a classic example. He basically hates everybody. Retired military I think.
Funny old guy. Refuses to go to the emergency room when urgently sick, because it is always full of “those goddam Mexicans.”
I assume he is talking about the doctors.
One wonders how one could be surprised at all the Mexicans when one lives about ten feet away from the boundary of the Gadsden Purchase. (Okay, it’s a few miles, but still.)
Wile E. Quixote
@Tenguphule
My favorite parts of Tim Dickinson’s brilliant take-down of McCain, Make Believe Maverick are where he talks about McCain’s abilities as a pilot. For your enjoyment I have excerpted them below, and if you haven’t read the article check it out. It’s brilliantly written and utterly demolishes McCain’s maverickyness.
and
and finally
Tom Betz
For them as missed Walnuts this morning:
youtube.com/watch?v=F8CLZGfZbmU
He’s an embarrassment to Arizona.
r€nato
Well, not exactly. CAP water was meant for agriculture when the project was conceived. I think they use a little of it in Tucson where the only drinking water available is groundwater; CAP water (if they are using it for this purpose) is diluted with groundwater because the straight stuff is undrinkable and knocks all sorts of crap loose from the water pipes which then floats to your tap.
I think the biggest non-agricultural use of CAP water is to recharge the aquifer (water banking). CAP water is expensive and really has not done much to make the continued growth here possible.
What CAP has done, is assure that Arizona gets to keep its generous allotment of Colorado River water for future use. In general when it comes to western US water law, if you don’t use it then eventually you will lose it.