The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

The Manchurian Maverick: John McCain Claims Bailout ‘Brainwash’ Victimhood

Posted on | March 1, 2010 | 19 Comments

“Barbara Espinosa must be doing a victory lap right now,” Da Tech Guy writes in reporting on how MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” battered John McCain today for claiming former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke  “misled” him into supporting the 2008 Wall Street bailout.

Remember that on Sept. 24, 2008 — the day Crazy Cousin John announced he would suspend his campaign and fly to D.C. to push for the bailout — my initial reaction was “Holy Crap! . . . This is insane.”  Two weeks later, many Republicans excoriated me for publishing an Oct. 7 American Spectator column entited, “How John McCain Lost,” that bluntly stated the obvious:

John McCain lost the election Sept. 24 and Barack Obama will be the next president of the United States. Nothing that is likely to happen between now and Nov. 4 can change this outcome. . . .
[B]y siding with the president on an issue that voters identified as favoritism toward Wall Street, the Republican cemented in the public mind a message that Team Obama had been promoting for months: A vote for McCain would mean a third term for George W. Bush. . . .
It was McCain’s outspoken support for the unpopular bailout — a big-government intervention incompatible with conservative economic philosophy — that handed the election to Obama. The bailout failed as politics and, as evidenced by Monday’s selloff on Wall Street, it also failed as policy.

McCain has no one but himself to blame for his own failure of judgment, and his attempt to scapegoat others is pure political cowardice. If Bernanke and Paulson were liars, wasn’t it McCain’s responsibility as a statesman to inform himself of their untrustworthy character and to question their advice? It’s time to rid the U.S. Senate of the one man most responsible for the Obama presidency.

 Enjoy your retirement, cuz!

MORE READING:

J.D. HAYWORTH for U.S. SENATE

Category: Arizona, Economics, Election, J.D. Hayworth, MSNBC, Republicans

Comments

  • http://theothermccain.com smitty

    Your cousin needs to be reminded of his Five Basic Responses from USNA:
    1) Yes, sir
    2) No, sir
    3) No excuse, sir
    4) I’ll find out, sir
    5) Aye aye, sir.

    It is among the more ironic pieces of American history that someone who has sacrificed so much for the country is also such a Progressive participant in that country’s demise.
    For example, see the non-support of the 10th Amendment in the 2008 Presidential debats when the question of the housing crisis was raised.
    Senator McCain, your memoir awaits.

  • http://theothermccain.com smitty

    Your cousin needs to be reminded of his Five Basic Responses from USNA:
    1) Yes, sir
    2) No, sir
    3) No excuse, sir
    4) I’ll find out, sir
    5) Aye aye, sir.

    It is among the more ironic pieces of American history that someone who has sacrificed so much for the country is also such a Progressive participant in that country’s demise.
    For example, see the non-support of the 10th Amendment in the 2008 Presidential debats when the question of the housing crisis was raised.
    Senator McCain, your memoir awaits.

  • http://dad29.blogspot.com dad29

    Well….Paulson lied to EVERYBODY, and probably to GWB, too–who also munched on the s&^% sandwich.

    You allege that McCain was too gullible, rather than that Paulson should be tarred, feathered, castrated, and sent into exile.

    I favor both.

  • http://dad29.blogspot.com dad29

    Well….Paulson lied to EVERYBODY, and probably to GWB, too–who also munched on the s&^% sandwich.

    You allege that McCain was too gullible, rather than that Paulson should be tarred, feathered, castrated, and sent into exile.

    I favor both.

  • w
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  • http://www.frumforum.com Joe Marier

    I want McCain to win this primary, but he’s really running a lousy campaign. Then again, so is Hayworth.

  • http://www.frumforum.com Joe Marier

    I want McCain to win this primary, but he’s really running a lousy campaign. Then again, so is Hayworth.

  • http://www.agoyandhisblog.com goy

    This is an extremely weak point on which to attack McCain. As dad29 points out, he WAS misled and, ultimately, lied to. As we all were.

    In this case, the facts are overwhelmingly on McCain’s side.

    http://justoneminute.typepad.com/main/2010/02/i-rise-to-defend-john-mccain.html

  • http://www.agoyandhisblog.com goy

    This is an extremely weak point on which to attack McCain. As dad29 points out, he WAS misled and, ultimately, lied to. As we all were.

    In this case, the facts are overwhelmingly on McCain’s side.

    http://justoneminute.typepad.com/main/2010/02/i-rise-to-defend-john-mccain.html

  • http://thecampofthesaints.wordpress.com Bob Belvedere

    Stacy: You were right and I was wrong at the time. Though I did not excoriate you in a posting, I respectfully disagreed, thinking his long bomb may work. I should have listened to your argument. Well done.

    SIDENOTE: Thank you for the mention in the HEADLINES section. The Bishop, Irish Cicero, and I are fighting for the noble cause of natural female breasts against those who would foist false and misleading ones on the already beaten-down and put-upon American male.

    But I must gently correct you on one small matter: I have not gone nuclear as yet [The Classic Liberal has, to no effect, using out-dated atomic weaponry (ie: Anne Hathaway)]. I am still using conventional weapons and, though fully prepared to go thermonuclear if necessary, plan to do so out of a decent respect for mankind. I must admit, however, that my patience with Kaiser GatorDoug, Comrade Chris Hotsky Trotsky Wysoki, Il Duche Russ Muss Olini, and Sultan MEHmed Todd is wearing thin.

  • http://thecampofthesaints.wordpress.com Bob Belvedere

    Stacy: You were right and I was wrong at the time. Though I did not excoriate you in a posting, I respectfully disagreed, thinking his long bomb may work. I should have listened to your argument. Well done.

    SIDENOTE: Thank you for the mention in the HEADLINES section. The Bishop, Irish Cicero, and I are fighting for the noble cause of natural female breasts against those who would foist false and misleading ones on the already beaten-down and put-upon American male.

    But I must gently correct you on one small matter: I have not gone nuclear as yet [The Classic Liberal has, to no effect, using out-dated atomic weaponry (ie: Anne Hathaway)]. I am still using conventional weapons and, though fully prepared to go thermonuclear if necessary, plan to do so out of a decent respect for mankind. I must admit, however, that my patience with Kaiser GatorDoug, Comrade Chris Hotsky Trotsky Wysoki, Il Duche Russ Muss Olini, and Sultan MEHmed Todd is wearing thin.

  • http://www.frumforum.com Joe Marier

    That’s fine, goy, but I still think McCain made an error here.

    You can’t get around the fact that McCain excoriated Democrats who used the the same excuse (I was misled) for their support of the Iraq war resolution. You give somebody the authority to do something — whether it be going to war with the Iraqi regime or invest 700 billion with some discretion — then you’re at least partially responsible for the results. As a candidate you should accept that and move to the next topic, not try and pathetically spin your way out.

  • http://www.frumforum.com Joe Marier

    That’s fine, goy, but I still think McCain made an error here.

    You can’t get around the fact that McCain excoriated Democrats who used the the same excuse (I was misled) for their support of the Iraq war resolution. You give somebody the authority to do something — whether it be going to war with the Iraqi regime or invest 700 billion with some discretion — then you’re at least partially responsible for the results. As a candidate you should accept that and move to the next topic, not try and pathetically spin your way out.

  • http://theothermccain.com Robert Stacy McCain

    Dad29:

    Paulson lied to EVERYBODY, and probably to GWB, too–who also munched on the s&^% sandwich.

    The argument was not merely about policy — which Maverick now admits was a mistake — but also about politics.

    By supporting the bailout, John McCain reminded grassroots conservatives why they never supported him in the first place. It was an unprincipled vote for an unpopular measure, negating whatever arguments for limited government McCain had ever made. What’s the point of condemning earmarks when you then turn around and give hundreds of billions of dollars to Goldman Sachs?

    Harry Reid didn’t need John McCain’s vote to pass that bailout. McCain’s “cancel the debate” move was just so much grandstanding. It was a phony stunt that didn’t fool anyone.

    Frankly, I’m shocked that anyone not on John McCain’s payroll is still willing to defend him.

  • http://theothermccain.com Robert Stacy McCain

    Dad29:

    Paulson lied to EVERYBODY, and probably to GWB, too–who also munched on the s&^% sandwich.

    The argument was not merely about policy — which Maverick now admits was a mistake — but also about politics.

    By supporting the bailout, John McCain reminded grassroots conservatives why they never supported him in the first place. It was an unprincipled vote for an unpopular measure, negating whatever arguments for limited government McCain had ever made. What’s the point of condemning earmarks when you then turn around and give hundreds of billions of dollars to Goldman Sachs?

    Harry Reid didn’t need John McCain’s vote to pass that bailout. McCain’s “cancel the debate” move was just so much grandstanding. It was a phony stunt that didn’t fool anyone.

    Frankly, I’m shocked that anyone not on John McCain’s payroll is still willing to defend him.

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  • ymchoo

    Excerpts from Henry Paulson’s memoir:

    http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704022804575041280125257648.html?mod=WSJ_LifeStyle_Lifestyle_5#articleTabs=article

    – We’d devised TARP to save the financial system. Now it had become all about politics—presidential politics. I wondered what McCain could have been thinking. Calling a meeting like this when we didn’t have a deal was playing with dynamite.

    – Now Obama and the Democrats were skillfully setting up the story line that McCain’s intervention had polarized the situation and that Republicans were walking away from an agreement. It was brilliant political theater that was about to degenerate into farce.

    – Skipping protocol, the president turned to McCain to offer him a chance to respond: “I think it’s fair that I give you the chance to speak next.”
    But McCain demurred. “I’ll wait my turn,” he said. It was an incredible moment, in every sense. This was supposed to be McCain’s meeting—he’d called it, not the president, who had simply accommodated the Republican candidate’s wishes. Now it looked as if McCain had no plan at all—his idea had been to suspend his campaign and summon us all to this meeting. It was not a strategy, it was a political gambit, and the Democrats had matched it with one of their own.

    – Finally, raising his voice over the din, Obama said loudly, “I’d like to hear what Senator McCain has to say, since we haven’t heard from him yet.”
    The room went silent and all eyes shifted to McCain, who sat quietly in his chair, holding a single note card. He glanced at it quickly and proceeded to make a few general points.

    – As he spoke, I could see Obama chuckling. McCain’s comments were anticlimactic, to say the least. His return to Washington was impulsive and risky, and I don’t think he had a plan in mind. If anything, his gambit only came back to hurt him, as he was pilloried in the press afterward, and in the end, I don’t believe his maneuver significantly influenced the TARP legislative process

    – But when it came right down to it, he had little to say in the forum he himself had called.

    – Barney Frank started to loudly bait McCain, who sat stony-faced.
    “What’s the Republican proposal?” he pressed. “What’s the Republican plan?”
    It got so ridiculous that Vice President Cheney started laughing. Frankly, I’d never seen anything like it before in politics or business—or in my fraternity days at Dartmouth, for that matter.

    http://afrocityblog.wordpress.com/2010/02/08/fly-on-the-tarp-wall/

    According to Henry Paulson’s memoir, John McCain suspended his campaign so that he can grand-stand to the public by taking advantage of the financial crisis. By doing so, he was jeopardising the TARP deal. Instead of being misled by Paulson and Bernake, it seems that he tried to mislead the public by pretending that he was a key architect of this TARP deal and then took full credit of it.

  • ymchoo

    Excerpts from Henry Paulson’s memoir:

    http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704022804575041280125257648.html?mod=WSJ_LifeStyle_Lifestyle_5#articleTabs=article

    – We’d devised TARP to save the financial system. Now it had become all about politics—presidential politics. I wondered what McCain could have been thinking. Calling a meeting like this when we didn’t have a deal was playing with dynamite.

    – Now Obama and the Democrats were skillfully setting up the story line that McCain’s intervention had polarized the situation and that Republicans were walking away from an agreement. It was brilliant political theater that was about to degenerate into farce.

    – Skipping protocol, the president turned to McCain to offer him a chance to respond: “I think it’s fair that I give you the chance to speak next.”
    But McCain demurred. “I’ll wait my turn,” he said. It was an incredible moment, in every sense. This was supposed to be McCain’s meeting—he’d called it, not the president, who had simply accommodated the Republican candidate’s wishes. Now it looked as if McCain had no plan at all—his idea had been to suspend his campaign and summon us all to this meeting. It was not a strategy, it was a political gambit, and the Democrats had matched it with one of their own.

    – Finally, raising his voice over the din, Obama said loudly, “I’d like to hear what Senator McCain has to say, since we haven’t heard from him yet.”
    The room went silent and all eyes shifted to McCain, who sat quietly in his chair, holding a single note card. He glanced at it quickly and proceeded to make a few general points.

    – As he spoke, I could see Obama chuckling. McCain’s comments were anticlimactic, to say the least. His return to Washington was impulsive and risky, and I don’t think he had a plan in mind. If anything, his gambit only came back to hurt him, as he was pilloried in the press afterward, and in the end, I don’t believe his maneuver significantly influenced the TARP legislative process

    – But when it came right down to it, he had little to say in the forum he himself had called.

    – Barney Frank started to loudly bait McCain, who sat stony-faced.
    “What’s the Republican proposal?” he pressed. “What’s the Republican plan?”
    It got so ridiculous that Vice President Cheney started laughing. Frankly, I’d never seen anything like it before in politics or business—or in my fraternity days at Dartmouth, for that matter.

    http://afrocityblog.wordpress.com/2010/02/08/fly-on-the-tarp-wall/

    According to Henry Paulson’s memoir, John McCain suspended his campaign so that he can grand-stand to the public by taking advantage of the financial crisis. By doing so, he was jeopardising the TARP deal. Instead of being misled by Paulson and Bernake, it seems that he tried to mislead the public by pretending that he was a key architect of this TARP deal and then took full credit of it.