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You are here: Home / The First Step Is Admitting You Have a Problem

The First Step Is Admitting You Have a Problem

by John Cole|  December 19, 20091:07 pm| 37 Comments

This post is in: Mainstream Media's McCain Mancrush

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If it is Sunday, It’s Meet President McCain!

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Previous Post: « What if we just make it easier to punch hippies?
Next Post: Seriously, Kick Him Out of the Caucus »

Reader Interactions

37Comments

  1. 1.

    smiley

    December 19, 2009 at 1:13 pm

    He doesn’t have anything else to do. I suspect he contacts the show rather than the other way around.

  2. 2.

    cleek

    December 19, 2009 at 1:14 pm

    well duh, he’s a senior member of the DC Bullshitters Club.

    why anyone watches their meetings is beyond me.

  3. 3.

    robertdsc-PowerBook & 27 titles

    December 19, 2009 at 1:15 pm

    Benen is a kick-ass blogger.

  4. 4.

    licensed to kill time

    December 19, 2009 at 1:16 pm

    Yes. John McCain should stand in front of the country and announce “My name Is John McCain, and I am NOT the President”.

    Hunh. Might as well face it, he’s addicted to power…

  5. 5.

    jeffreyw

    December 19, 2009 at 1:17 pm

    Mrs J just called from the shelter, seems a new dog is gonna be a momma in a few. She has a camera, I told her to be sure to use it.

  6. 6.

    DougL (frmrly: Conservatively Liberal)

    December 19, 2009 at 1:18 pm

    Ol’ Prezdident Walnuts iz popyoular!

  7. 7.

    dr. bloor

    December 19, 2009 at 1:20 pm

    Klobuchar should just laugh at him and say, “Who cares what you think, old man? You’re going to vote against cloture on this bill, and we’re going to ram it right down your piehole anyways?” I’d watch Fox for that.

  8. 8.

    Meyer

    December 19, 2009 at 1:24 pm

    Give the guy a break. He had to deal with Sarah Palin as his running mate for two entire months last year. They are making up for all the attention she sucked away from him during what should have been his campaign for the presidency. Should only take another 20 years of Sunday talk shows.

  9. 9.

    chrome agnomen

    December 19, 2009 at 1:25 pm

    none of these folks think they have a problem

  10. 10.

    lamh31

    December 19, 2009 at 1:27 pm

    Dont’ know if anyone’s posted this yet, but Vickie Kennedy has posted an online op-ed :

    “The moment Ted Kennedy would not want to lose”
    By Victoria Reggie Kennedy

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/18/AR2009121803506.html

  11. 11.

    Ash Can

    December 19, 2009 at 1:27 pm

    Who even watches that crap anyway?

  12. 12.

    JenJen

    December 19, 2009 at 1:28 pm

    The only way to greet this news is with a hearty “HUZZAH!” (h/t Atrios)

  13. 13.

    El Cid

    December 19, 2009 at 1:32 pm

    Did you see Rachel Maddow point out that when Old Blowhard Maverick McCain was whining about how mean Al Franken had pissed in Joe Lieberman’s cornflakes by obeying the Senate leadership rules and limiting debate periods for everyone that OMG THIS HAZ NEVR BEEN DONE IN THE ENTIRE HISTORY OF URF, the MAVERICK forgot that he himself had cut out debate when a Democratic Senator asked for 30 more seconds to complete his argument against the Iraq war resolution?

    ‘OMG, no one has ever been SO DISRESPECTFUL of SENATE DEBATE AND RESPECT ever since I did it to shut up a Senator whining about some minor topic like the U.S. fucking invading and occupying a middle eastern nation.’

  14. 14.

    fraught

    December 19, 2009 at 1:33 pm

    Because nothing he says has any resonance and the way he drones on is so similar to a boring preacher who just goes on about something or other repeatedly week after week and induces wandering thoughts and sleepy yawns in his listeners. He’s a soporific for conservatives and lazy liberals who would like to think he’s sort of a safe republican. He’s perfect for the sunday crowd who watch this shit and believe they’re keeping up with things. Lapsed Catholics who suffer deep seated guilt about not going to mass.

  15. 15.

    CalD

    December 19, 2009 at 1:33 pm

    OK I admit it: John McCain is a problem.

  16. 16.

    Cat Lady

    December 19, 2009 at 1:37 pm

    @lamh31:

    To be followed on Monday by Liz Cheney’s op-ed’s point by point rebuttal.

  17. 17.

    danimal

    December 19, 2009 at 1:37 pm

    I don’t want anyone else to be the face of the GOP (except maybe a teabagger or two), so I’m ok with neutered President McCain.

  18. 18.

    Comrade Jake

    December 19, 2009 at 1:39 pm

    And who, exactly, is John McCain? He’s the one who lost last year’s presidential race badly, and is now just another conservative senator in the minority. He’s not in the party leadership; he has no role in any important negotiations on any issue; and he’s offered no significant pieces of legislation. By all appearances, McCain isn’t even especially influential among his own GOP colleagues.

    That’s Benen. He’s 100% right of course. I suppose I could understand this if there was some indication that McCain was good for ratings. But I can’t believe that’s the case. This is simply the media hacks taking more turns on the tire swing.

  19. 19.

    JenJen

    December 19, 2009 at 1:45 pm

    Speaking of Presidents, the actual President is on TV right now, speaking live, talking about health care legislative progress, Copenhagen, and OMG HE IS NOT WEARING A TIE

  20. 20.

    Chat Noir

    December 19, 2009 at 1:49 pm

    @El Cid: Yes, I saw that. He needs to retire to one of his 27 houses already. What a dirt bag.

  21. 21.

    JD Rhoades

    December 19, 2009 at 1:52 pm

    I think one of the commenters over at Benen’s blog hit on the reason: McCain’s one of the few prominent Republicans who’s not batshit insane.

  22. 22.

    PTirebiter

    December 19, 2009 at 1:53 pm

    Wallace sits down for exclusive interviews with Sens. John McCain…

    Wallace probably thinks hookers are charging him extra for exclusivity.

  23. 23.

    Chat Noir

    December 19, 2009 at 1:53 pm

    CBO score is out for the Senate Bill, per Steve Benen:

    The Congressional Budget Office, at long last, released its score on the Senate health care proposal. Republicans hoping to use the score to attack the bill are likely to be disappointed.

  24. 24.

    mistersnrub

    December 19, 2009 at 1:55 pm

    The only people who will listen to him are these bootlicking media hacks. He is absolutely powerless, and garners no respect in the senate. He is done. His last shot at glory has vanished, and now Palin is his legacy. His pathetic sniping at Franken just epitomizes how the senate needs to be scrubbed of all these chummy, sanctimonious old-timers and injected with fresh, non-corporate whore blood.

  25. 25.

    Nethead Jay

    December 19, 2009 at 1:57 pm

    @El Cid: I get The Rachel Maddow show as a podcast and just finished watching it now. Yes that was awesome, I only wish it would have more impact.

    Another part of the show that was great was the clip showing Sen. Byrd being wheeled in to break the vote on the Defense Appropriations bill, saying “Shame” to the Reps several times. As far as I’m concerned, that vote should be used to nail the RePigs to the wall with a harpoon (channeling one of the Dirty Harry movies here) for a loooong time. F’ing sociopaths.

  26. 26.

    gwangung

    December 19, 2009 at 1:57 pm

    @Chat Noir: So, caps are gone. Good.

    I can agree with folks who think this is not a good bill. But it still seems to me that the bad parts can be adjusted, and that adjustments are less amenable to filibustering.

  27. 27.

    fledermaus

    December 19, 2009 at 2:00 pm

    I’m on pins and needles waiting to hear what he thinks of the Health Care bill.

  28. 28.

    El Cid

    December 19, 2009 at 2:01 pm

    The CBO report via the Director’s Blog rates the latest Senate bill has having a net $132 billion in budget deficit reduction

    The Teatards will be out there only mentioning the $800+ billion bill, but they will never mention the CBO’s own estimate that $132 billion net would be saved.

    CBO and JCT estimate that the direct spending and revenue effects of enacting the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act incorporating the manager’s amendment would yield a net reduction in federal deficits of $132 billion over the 2010-2019 period. Of that total amount of deficit reduction, the manager’s amendment accounts for about $2 billion, and the act as originally proposed accounts for the remaining $130 billion.

  29. 29.

    Chat Noir

    December 19, 2009 at 2:03 pm

    @gwangung: That’s my hope, too. I feel like this whole health care debate has taken at least 10 years off my life. I’m just trying to do my duty to be an informed voter but sometimes it’s painful.

  30. 30.

    Nethead Jay

    December 19, 2009 at 2:03 pm

    @dr. bloor: If she or anybody else did that I think my head would explode. For joy.

  31. 31.

    robertdsc-PowerBook & 27 titles

    December 19, 2009 at 2:12 pm

    The CBO report via the Director’s Blog rates the latest Senate bill has having a net $132 billion in budget deficit reduction

    I’ll give it to the Dem Congress & the White House on this point: whatever I think of their bills on the merits, they at least made a legitimate stab at being responsible with the deficit reductions. I like that.

  32. 32.

    Mike in NC

    December 19, 2009 at 2:37 pm

    Hard to believe he’s done only 17 Sunday TV talk show appearances in the past year. But maybe McPOW will show off photos from his last prostate exam to tie it to health care reform.

  33. 33.

    Shell

    December 19, 2009 at 2:47 pm

    It’s the Sunday before Christmas, for F’s sake. Doesn’t this guy ever go home?

  34. 34.

    The Grand Panjandrum

    December 19, 2009 at 3:32 pm

    President McCain, the man who has been on gummint healthcare since birth, wants to speak out on this outrageous gummint takeover of our healthcare system.

  35. 35.

    danimal

    December 19, 2009 at 3:34 pm

    @Shell:

    It’s the Sunday before Christmas, for F’s sake. Doesn’t this guy ever go home?

    Depends. Are there cameras/reporters waiting for him?

    Luvs me the edit function.

  36. 36.

    AngusTheGodOfMeat

    December 19, 2009 at 4:31 pm

    You have to stand over by McCain’s principal residence and look around. I can take you there, you can sometimes see him, without binoculars.

    There he is, looking out over Phoenix. Now, he has no interest in Phoenix, or Arizona, or anything that has anything to do with anything that is critical to this state.

    He really doesn’t have that much to do. Time on his hands, and all.

    So, he comes down to the generic cable tv studio over here on Osborn Road and puts on the pancake makeup and goes and talks like an important person. Or he goes to the one in DC and does it, whatever.

    What else is the guy supposed to do?

  37. 37.

    DougL (frmrly: Conservatively Liberal)

    December 19, 2009 at 6:49 pm

    It’s the Sunday before Christmas, for F’s sake. Doesn’t this guy ever go home?

     
    Depends. Are there cameras/reporters waiting for him they leaking?

    Fix’t.

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