VIDEO: John McCain Admits What Everybody Always Knew: He’s a Liar

Posted on | August 9, 2010 | 57 Comments

A genuinely devastating ad from the Hayworth campaign that even Ace of Spades admits is kinda awesome:

What did Crazy Cousin John admit lying about? The Confederate flag. That’s something that no one should tolerate, no matter how you feel about the Confederacy.

Just so that there is no unnecessary misunderstanding here, let me explain why this is so personal to me: According to the geneaology the Senator provided in his book, Faith of My Fathers, we are indeed distant cousins, a kinship traceable to a common ancestor recorded in the 1790 Census of South Carolina. As I often tell friends, his ancestors went to Mississippi and became wealthy planters, while mine went to East Alabama and became redneck dirt farmers.

A Fighting Legacy

John McCain’s ancestors were officers of Mississippi regiments in the conflict that polite Southerners call “The Late Unpleasantness.” However, I trace my own connection to the Confederacy through my great-grandfather (my paternal grandmother’s father) Winston Wood Bolt who served as a private in the 13th Alabama Infantry. He was captured when his regiment was outflanked by the Union’s famous Iron Brigade in the opening attack of the battle of Gettysburg, July 1, 1863, and spent two years as a prisoner of war at Fort Delaware.

Among my papers is a copy of an order signed by the 13th Alabama’s regimental commander, Col. Birkett Davenport Fry, authorizing a small payment to Private Bolt for rations during a period of furlough in the winter of 1862-63. My great-grandfather had gone home to Randolph County on furlough and returned with a new recruit: His brother Robert Bolt, who escaped capture at Gettysburg, but subsequently lost an arm when he was wounded in the 1864 battle of the Wilderness.

Most signficant about Col. Fry’s order for payment to my great-grandfather is this: When Winston Bold was required to sign the order acknowledging receipt, he signed his name with an “X.”

He was entirely illiterate. Here I am 150 years and three generations later, a journalist and published author who reaches thousands of readers daily. Yet I consider myself rather inferior to my unlettered ancestor, who withstood the trial of war and thus shared the distinction of being “a man of gunpowder reputation,” as an obituary writer said of Col. Fry.

Certainly it behooves me as Winston Bolt’s great-grandson to honor his service and to do what little I can, as a writer, to defend his good name. Such advantages of education as I have are, after all, largely the legacy of his grandson William McCain, my own father.

‘Putting on Airs’? God Forbid!

As a child, I often visited the family farm north of Wedowee, Ala., where my father grew up, near where Winston Bolt is buried at Ava Methodist Church. I remember well my Grandma McCain — Winston Bolt’s daughter, Perlonia — as a woman with cornflower blue eyes and strong chin who cooked on a wood stove, drew water from the well and tended her own vegetable garden well until she was past age 80.

My father’s two older brothers had died (in an auto accident, I believe) in the 1920s and, though he had three sisters, he was my grandmother’s only surviving son. When war came in 1941, my father enlisted and became an Army sergeant. He thereby qualified for the G.I. Bill, and graduated from the University of Alabama. Because he had been wounded by German shrapnel while fighting the Nazis in France, my father was medically certified as suffering a disability which, according to a postwar act of the Alabama legislature, qualified his sons for free tuition and books at any state college. So my education at Jacksonville (Ala.) State University was paid for, as it were, with my father’s blood.

Conciousness of this legacy therefore obliges me to speak well of those whose sacrifices made possible so much of what I have and they did not, and it would be the height of churlish ingratitude if I were to “put on airs” and pretend that I were somehow superior to them. So when somebody starts putting down Southern rednecks, it kind of riles my blood: “You’re talking about my people!”

People will not look forward to posterity, who will not look backward to their ancestors. . . . We know that we have made no discoveries, and we think that no discoveries are to be made, in morality; nor many in the great principles of government; nor in the ideas of liberty, which were understood long before we were born, altogether as they will be after the grave has heaped its mould upon our presumption, and the silent tomb shall have imposed its law on our pert loquacity.
— Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France

Just as my Alabama farmboy father served in World War II, both John McCain’s father and grandfather served with distinction in the U.S. Navy. Like all Southern men of their generation, the senator’s father and my father were conscious that their performance of patriotic duty to a reunited nation was important to preserving the good names of their ancestors, which they would pass along untarnished to their own sons. To our fathers, the fact that our ancestors had fought in the cause of Southern independence was a source of great pride no matter what any Yankee might say about it.

We can argue 19th-century politics all day long and you can call me every name in the book, and I’ll give it right back at you or silently smile at your ignorance, as it suits my fancy. However, if you expect me to denounce my own great-grandfather — who is not here to speak for himself — your expectations are as foolish as they are insulting.

You are free to defecate on the graves of your ancestors if you wish, but forgive me if I refuse your suggestion that I do likewise.

So when I consider John McCain’s opportunistic prevarication on the Confederate flag issue, I can only conclude this way: A man who will, for political advantage, purposefully lie about a subject that touches upon the good name of his own ancestors is a man who cannot be trusted.

J.D. HAYWORTH for U.S. SENATE

UPDATE: Eloquent young Cubachi says:

It is no secret that I am no fan of the king of RINOs Senator John McCain. His pathetic campaign in 2008 where he laid kid gloves on Obama and left Sarah Palin defenseless was the worst thing I’ve seen in a long time, not to mention his record in the senate. . . . When it comes to attacking conservatives, McCain is at the top of his game, lies and all.

There’s now a Memeorandum thread.

Category: Arizona, Family, History, J.D. Hayworth, Senate

Comments

57 Responses to “VIDEO: John McCain Admits What Everybody Always Knew: He’s a Liar”

Harold Crews
August 9th, 2010 @ 3:22 pm

It is worse than that. When a man renounces his own ancestors he has bastardised himself.
Harold Crews
August 9th, 2010 @ 7:22 pm

It is worse than that. When a man renounces his own ancestors he has bastardised himself.
Joe
August 9th, 2010 @ 7:43 pm

Pretty tough ad. Too bad it is too late for JD Hayworth. I am very disappointed in McCain. But I am not about to toss a seat to the Dems in the Senate.
Joe
August 9th, 2010 @ 3:43 pm

Pretty tough ad. Too bad it is too late for JD Hayworth. I am very disappointed in McCain. But I am not about to toss a seat to the Dems in the Senate.
Joe
August 9th, 2010 @ 7:48 pm

Here is a good anti joke:

A horse walks into a bar. Bartender says, “Hey, why the long face?” Horse says, “Because Mac Daddy McCain and his Parliment of Suck is going to get reelected and unfortunately the best candidate we could come up with is looney J.D. Hayworth.”
Joe
August 9th, 2010 @ 3:48 pm

Here is a good anti joke:

A horse walks into a bar. Bartender says, “Hey, why the long face?” Horse says, “Because Mac Daddy McCain and his Parliment of Suck is going to get reelected and unfortunately the best candidate we could come up with is looney J.D. Hayworth.”
DaveP.
August 9th, 2010 @ 8:09 pm

McCain… Isn’t that the guy who helped give the Democrats control of Congress and Barry Obama the White House?
But that was okay, because of comity.

Right, Joe? We need more of that across-the-aisles stuff now, right?
Jeff
August 9th, 2010 @ 8:09 pm

John McCain is a man I’d turn my back to if he walked in the room. I knew what he was the first time he ran for president. When he’s the best the Republicans can come up with, why wouldn’t I vote third party? I take pride in all my ancestors who are veterans (including the Confederate ones; and I’m not in the SCV). Right on RSM!
brad kcnut essex
August 9th, 2010 @ 8:09 pm

John mccain have very low honor. He’ll stab you in the back to get what he want. While i respect his service to his country i can’t support this guy. That is why I’ve endorsed JD Hayworth. Even thou my ancestors fought for the north i respect your family commitment to serve Robert.
DaveP.
August 9th, 2010 @ 4:09 pm

McCain… Isn’t that the guy who helped give the Democrats control of Congress and Barry Obama the White House?
But that was okay, because of comity.

Right, Joe? We need more of that across-the-aisles stuff now, right?
Jeff
August 9th, 2010 @ 4:09 pm

John McCain is a man I’d turn my back to if he walked in the room. I knew what he was the first time he ran for president. When he’s the best the Republicans can come up with, why wouldn’t I vote third party? I take pride in all my ancestors who are veterans (including the Confederate ones; and I’m not in the SCV). Right on RSM!
brad kcnut essex
August 9th, 2010 @ 4:09 pm

John mccain have very low honor. He’ll stab you in the back to get what he want. While i respect his service to his country i can’t support this guy. That is why I’ve endorsed JD Hayworth. Even thou my ancestors fought for the north i respect your family commitment to serve Robert.
Estragon
August 9th, 2010 @ 8:30 pm

So, instead of McCain, we need a crooked jerk like J.D. Hayworth? A big-spending, pork-barreling, earmarking, lobbyist-owned, birther nut?

Hayworth belongs in a federal prison, and no honest person could possibly support him for any position of trust.
Estragon
August 9th, 2010 @ 4:30 pm

So, instead of McCain, we need a crooked jerk like J.D. Hayworth? A big-spending, pork-barreling, earmarking, lobbyist-owned, birther nut?

Hayworth belongs in a federal prison, and no honest person could possibly support him for any position of trust.
Joe
August 9th, 2010 @ 8:53 pm

DaveP. did McCain run a lame campaign? Yes. Could he have beaten Obama if he took the gloves off? Probably not. Obama won by timing of the economic meltdown and an anti Republican sentiment.

Did McCain give Dems control of Congress? No. He did not.
Joe
August 9th, 2010 @ 4:53 pm

DaveP. did McCain run a lame campaign? Yes. Could he have beaten Obama if he took the gloves off? Probably not. Obama won by timing of the economic meltdown and an anti Republican sentiment.

Did McCain give Dems control of Congress? No. He did not.
Thrasymachus
August 9th, 2010 @ 9:06 pm

I would say John McCain compares unfavorably as a man and a human being to Gerry Coffey, except hardly anybody has heard of Gerry Coffey, because he hasn’t spent the last 40 years or so dining out on his POW status.
Thrasymachus
August 9th, 2010 @ 5:06 pm

I would say John McCain compares unfavorably as a man and a human being to Gerry Coffey, except hardly anybody has heard of Gerry Coffey, because he hasn’t spent the last 40 years or so dining out on his POW status.
Robert Stacy McCain
August 9th, 2010 @ 9:53 pm

Did McCain give Dems control of Congress? No. He did not.

Like the five-monthy all-out push for the McCain-Kennedy amnesty in 2006 didn’t kill Republican grassroots enthusiasm?

To hell with John McCain and the horse he rode in on.
Robert Stacy McCain
August 9th, 2010 @ 5:53 pm

Did McCain give Dems control of Congress? No. He did not.

Like the five-monthy all-out push for the McCain-Kennedy amnesty in 2006 didn’t kill Republican grassroots enthusiasm?

To hell with John McCain and the horse he rode in on.
Old Rebel
August 9th, 2010 @ 10:14 pm

“To hell with John McCain and the horse he rode in on.”

Amen! Otherwise, the message is that there’s no penalty in lying for votes.
Old Rebel
August 9th, 2010 @ 6:14 pm

“To hell with John McCain and the horse he rode in on.”

Amen! Otherwise, the message is that there’s no penalty in lying for votes.
Stogie
August 9th, 2010 @ 10:17 pm

Stacy, my ancestor (my great grandfather) fought the Yankees as a member of the 4th Alabama Cavalry.
Stogie
August 9th, 2010 @ 6:17 pm

Stacy, my ancestor (my great grandfather) fought the Yankees as a member of the 4th Alabama Cavalry.
Joe
August 9th, 2010 @ 10:31 pm

Okay, so because McCain dampened enthusiasm then, Democrats swept congress months later? I do not think so. I can understand not liking John McCain. By all means if you support Hayworth, vote for Hayworth (I do not live in Arizona). I would have loved to seen a better challenger to McCain. But just because he is a sucky conservative, he is definitely not primarily to blame for the Democrats taking House and Senate.

And it looks like he is going to beat Hayworth. And go back to the Senate.

According to Rasmussen, Hayworth runs five points back in a match up with the Democrat Glassman.
Joe
August 9th, 2010 @ 6:31 pm

Okay, so because McCain dampened enthusiasm then, Democrats swept congress months later? I do not think so. I can understand not liking John McCain. By all means if you support Hayworth, vote for Hayworth (I do not live in Arizona). I would have loved to seen a better challenger to McCain. But just because he is a sucky conservative, he is definitely not primarily to blame for the Democrats taking House and Senate.

And it looks like he is going to beat Hayworth. And go back to the Senate.

According to Rasmussen, Hayworth runs five points back in a match up with the Democrat Glassman.
Bob Belvedere
August 9th, 2010 @ 11:09 pm

My great-great maternal grandfather Robert fought for the North [Company F, 5th Missouri Voluntary Calvary]. His father, William, and two of Robert’s brothers fought for the South [the family disowned Robert].

John McCain has shown himself to be a dishonorable man who’s bravery as a POW is tarnished by this behavior.
Bob Belvedere
August 9th, 2010 @ 7:09 pm

My great-great maternal grandfather Robert fought for the North [Company F, 5th Missouri Voluntary Calvary]. His father, William, and two of Robert’s brothers fought for the South [the family disowned Robert].

John McCain has shown himself to be a dishonorable man who’s bravery as a POW is tarnished by this behavior.
Joe
August 9th, 2010 @ 11:47 pm

Hayworth is going to lose. But he might as well lose with style.
Joe
August 9th, 2010 @ 7:47 pm

Hayworth is going to lose. But he might as well lose with style.
Joe
August 10th, 2010 @ 12:09 am

Now this is an epic meltdown.

Slater was later arrested at his home in Belle Harbor, Queens by Port Authority officials. He was found by police in a sexual embrace with his partner, sources said.

I do not want to be judgmental, but the mean things said about the Prop 8 judge must have prompted this.

John McCain must also be to blame. Either McCain or George Bush. What other explanation could there be?
Joe
August 9th, 2010 @ 8:09 pm

Now this is an epic meltdown.

Slater was later arrested at his home in Belle Harbor, Queens by Port Authority officials. He was found by police in a sexual embrace with his partner, sources said.

I do not want to be judgmental, but the mean things said about the Prop 8 judge must have prompted this.

John McCain must also be to blame. Either McCain or George Bush. What other explanation could there be?
Carol
August 10th, 2010 @ 12:12 am

There is a huge political meet & greet in Sierra Vista, AZ this weekend (my daughter’s co. is one of the sponsors). I’m told that 70 pols were invited and over 50, including Hayworth and Jan Brewer, will be there. McCain didn’t even bother to RSVP. Classy guy.
Carol
August 9th, 2010 @ 8:12 pm

There is a huge political meet & greet in Sierra Vista, AZ this weekend (my daughter’s co. is one of the sponsors). I’m told that 70 pols were invited and over 50, including Hayworth and Jan Brewer, will be there. McCain didn’t even bother to RSVP. Classy guy.
FormerTusconan
August 10th, 2010 @ 12:28 am

Well, I live in Arizona (after living 42 of my 46 years in North Carolina) and I can truthfully say that I won’t be surprised at who wins.

This whole state is bat-[expletive] crazy.

My great-great-grandfather served in Pettigrew’s (NC) Brigade. They ran the Iron Brigade out of McPherson’s Woods on July 1, 1863.
FormerTusconan
August 9th, 2010 @ 8:28 pm

Well, I live in Arizona (after living 42 of my 46 years in North Carolina) and I can truthfully say that I won’t be surprised at who wins.

This whole state is bat-[expletive] crazy.

My great-great-grandfather served in Pettigrew’s (NC) Brigade. They ran the Iron Brigade out of McPherson’s Woods on July 1, 1863.
Robert Stacy McCain
August 10th, 2010 @ 1:56 am

My great-great-grandfather served in Pettigrew’s (NC) Brigade. They ran the Iron Brigade out of McPherson’s Woods on July 1, 1863.

Right, and the survivors of the 13th Alabama (Archer’s brigade) joined Pettigrew in the so-called “Pickett’s charge” of July 3.
Robert Stacy McCain
August 9th, 2010 @ 9:56 pm

My great-great-grandfather served in Pettigrew’s (NC) Brigade. They ran the Iron Brigade out of McPherson’s Woods on July 1, 1863.

Right, and the survivors of the 13th Alabama (Archer’s brigade) joined Pettigrew in the so-called “Pickett’s charge” of July 3.
Robert M. Engstrom
August 10th, 2010 @ 2:51 am

What us desert rats are facing in the McCain/Hayworth race is a repeat of the 2008 presidential campaign. There is one candidate who simply cannot win, never had a chance, and the insulting desperation of his campaign distracts from the economy, federal debt and border security.
Arizonans, given the choice of the lesser of two evils, are going to re-elect McCain. We know that as soon as he’s safe for another six years, he’ll be sliding left so fast there will be burnout tracks across the aisle, but Hayworth is a retreaded government as usual we voted out once already. He won’t have McCain’s seniority in the Senate.
McCain has avoided the Arizona Tea Party contingents, but his support among them is still strong. When Hayworth speaks at the Tea Party rallies he generates great enthusiasm, right up to the point where he asks for donations and votes. Suddenly, only half the crowd is still cheering.
Some will vote for Jim Deakins, the unknown also-ran in this race because many Arizona Republicans are heartily sick of McCain and Hayworth attack ads. The choices are unpalatable. Deep down, we feel like we’re going to get a loser no matter who wins … and the feeling sucks. The McCain and Hayworth campaigns are putting one, possibly both, Senate Republican seats in jeopardy in the future.
Robert M. Engstrom
August 9th, 2010 @ 10:51 pm

What us desert rats are facing in the McCain/Hayworth race is a repeat of the 2008 presidential campaign. There is one candidate who simply cannot win, never had a chance, and the insulting desperation of his campaign distracts from the economy, federal debt and border security.
Arizonans, given the choice of the lesser of two evils, are going to re-elect McCain. We know that as soon as he’s safe for another six years, he’ll be sliding left so fast there will be burnout tracks across the aisle, but Hayworth is a retreaded government as usual we voted out once already. He won’t have McCain’s seniority in the Senate.
McCain has avoided the Arizona Tea Party contingents, but his support among them is still strong. When Hayworth speaks at the Tea Party rallies he generates great enthusiasm, right up to the point where he asks for donations and votes. Suddenly, only half the crowd is still cheering.
Some will vote for Jim Deakins, the unknown also-ran in this race because many Arizona Republicans are heartily sick of McCain and Hayworth attack ads. The choices are unpalatable. Deep down, we feel like we’re going to get a loser no matter who wins … and the feeling sucks. The McCain and Hayworth campaigns are putting one, possibly both, Senate Republican seats in jeopardy in the future.
Hayworth’s “I chose lying” ad gains notice | Zingstrom's Blog
August 9th, 2010 @ 11:23 pm

[…] Posted on August 9, 2010 by zingstrom There’s an interesting discussion of J.D. Hayworth’s latest anti-John McCain ad going on over at The Other McCain blog site, along with the usual assortment of […]
Ben (The Tiger)
August 10th, 2010 @ 11:22 am

Couldn’t Arizona Republicans have done better than these two?!
Ben (The Tiger)
August 10th, 2010 @ 7:22 am

Couldn’t Arizona Republicans have done better than these two?!
Kojocaro
August 10th, 2010 @ 12:12 pm

hey estraturd why do you want juan mcshit’s politicial rivals thrown in jail oh wait i forgot anyone who makes Mccai look bad deserves jail and btw the usual suspects are wringing their hands on this over at hot air.
Kojocaro
August 10th, 2010 @ 12:12 pm

Mccain*
Kojocaro
August 10th, 2010 @ 8:12 am

hey estraturd why do you want juan mcshit’s politicial rivals thrown in jail oh wait i forgot anyone who makes Mccai look bad deserves jail and btw the usual suspects are wringing their hands on this over at hot air.
Kojocaro
August 10th, 2010 @ 8:12 am

Mccain*
Bob Belvedere
August 10th, 2010 @ 3:37 pm

I second Ben (The Tiger): I support Hayworth, but, Jesus Christ and General Jackson, couldn’t conservatives in Arizona have come up with a better candidate?
Bob Belvedere
August 10th, 2010 @ 11:37 am

I second Ben (The Tiger): I support Hayworth, but, Jesus Christ and General Jackson, couldn’t conservatives in Arizona have come up with a better candidate?
FormerTusconan
August 10th, 2010 @ 4:27 pm

“Right, and the survivors of the 13th Alabama (Archer’s brigade) joined Pettigrew in the so-called “Pickett’s charge” of July 3.”

Back home that was generally refered to as the ‘Pickett-Pettigrew-Trimble Assualt’.