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McCain to Vet Aides "More Thoroughly" for Lobbying Ties
McCain is rolling out a new way of doing things -- instead of reacting to news stories that point out the fact that his advisors are lobbying for clients in opposition to his stated policies, he's going to root such contradictions out himself:
Sen. John McCain said today that his campaign will do a better job scrutinizing the people who work for it, given the resignation of two officials who had ties to a firm representing Myanmar's military junta...."People will be thoroughly, more thoroughly, vetted and we'll make sure that that is the case."
He specifically referred to the two people who were tied to Myanmar--Doug Davenport, a regional campaign director for Mid-Atlantic states, and Doug Goodyear, who was slated to run the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn., this summer.
"We found out that these two individuals had represented that country and so they left. We will vet everyone very seriously to make sure there's not a repetition," McCain told reporters.
Comments (8)
From "Head of State"
http://headofstate.blogspot.com/2008/05/change-that-you-deserve.html
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
The Change That You Deserve
From the Chicago Tribune:
Black Screen.
Fade into:
Scene of a thin grey haired man standing in a green field. Behind him we can see the sun is rising.
"I got the change I deserved with GOP."
Cut to a small child, in a sun dress, who looks up at him and smiles.
"I was tired, listless. I had lost interest in my usual activities--creating false attacks, acting as if I had been unfairly attacked about issues created out of whole cloth, drawing specious historical parallels, fawning over ideologically bankrupt manufactured father figures. Sure, I sent emails claiming that Obama was a Muslim, but somehow...it had lost the spark, the enjoyment of everyday life."
Cut to a child who rides by on a bicycle, and throws a newspaper on the front porch.
"That's when I found GOP."
Cut to man rowing in a scull across a still river. He turns to the camera, smiles.
"In clinical studies, GOP has been found to increase aggressiveness in the absence of actual provocation in 8 out of 10 users. In most users, the desire to gleefully attack returns in 1 week. Full enthusiasm for invented ideas in two. "
Cut to image of porch swing.
"With GOP, my attention to minor distractions fully returned, until I was again building them into major accusations of flawed character. Once again, my intense focus on pins, buttons, sentences fragments and remote relationships as absolute indications of personal virtue and ability was at its peak. For an entire weekend, I could one again choose the right moment to accuse a candidate of treason without cause--when I was ready, when the time felt right".
Cut to a series of blurred images: long, stringy haired teens in torn jeans and ironic 80's t-shirts lounging by the Washington Monument; picture of John Kerry in a Swift Boat during Vietnam;
Eiffel Tower. Arugula on plate. During these images, rapid voiceover in female voice:
"GOP may cause monosyllabism, inability to consider two differing concepts at the same time, memory loss or inaccurate recall of recently and repeatedly presented intelligence information, focus on size of automobiles or koro, sequential nicknaming, knowing mischaracterization, hooting. If you have a desire to read the collected works of Ann Coulter that lasts longer than four hours, this may be a sign of a dangerous condition and you should contact your physician immediately."
Cut back to man standing in field. American flag waving in the distance behind him, below a risen sun. A woman walks up beside him, puts her arm around him, and smiles.
Man:
"So get the change that you deserve. Talk to your Doctor about GOP. Soon, you'll be walking by the homeless on the street again and saying "Let them get a job!"
Or better yet--let them get GOP."
Woman smiles.
Fade.
Cite:
Head of State
http://headofstate.blogspot.com/2008/05/change-that-you-deserve.html
May 15, 2008 11:32 AM | Reply | Permalink
Superb! I feel cured already.
But is a prescription for "GOP" covered by my shitty HMO plan? What about the seniors on Medicare?
May 15, 2008 2:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
It'll be very interesting to see if McCain actually tries to root out campaign staff/lobbyists who have lobbied for oppressive governments in general, or just for oppressive governments that have been in the news and are likely to generate bad PR. So far, there's no evidence it's anything but an effort in damage control.
Of course, in the long run, that cynical approach is likely to hurt him, because there's no way to predict which oppressive foreign governments will be thrust into prominence in the news, and every time a new one is and he's discovered to have lobbyist staffers with ties to that one, too, it'll raise new questions of why they weren't "vetted".
May 15, 2008 12:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
Shorter McCain: What? I have lobbyists working for me? Must be another senior moment.
May 15, 2008 2:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
Dear Mr. Maverick:
So you're rooting out corrupt lobbyists, eh?
[cough]Charlie Black[/cough]
Great news!
Will you have any staff left?
May 15, 2008 2:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
Has McCain met, spoken to or even heard of anyone in the last 40 years that isn't a lobbyist?
Are his lobbyists going vet the other lobbyists?
Senator Wackadoo slides further into the sewers of insanity every day . . .
May 15, 2008 5:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
And this poll says it all. You won't believe these results!
http://www.votenic.com
May 15, 2008 8:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
Vet his advisers better. What a crock. Hard to believe he didn't know what Gramm was up to. Senator Turtle's policy positions were widely known for years. He drafted many of the bank deregulation laws that got us into the subprime mess. It was the cornerstone of his time in the Senate.
It made his pals on Wall Street rich, so that's what really mattered.
Drip drip drip. The sound of McCain's credibility melting away.
May 28, 2008 10:12 AM | Reply | Permalink