‘[N]o one would accuse McCain of equivocating on anything’

October 31, 2006

When Chris Matthews recently described the national media as John McCain’s “base,” he really wasn’t kidding.

In her latest column, posted online on October 29 and that will appear in the November 6 edition of U.S. News & World Report, U.S. News contributing editor and CBS News national political correspondent Gloria Borger asserted that “[n]o one would accuse [Sen. John] McCain [R-AZ] of equivocating on anything.” Writing about the prospect of Sen. Barack Obama’s (D-IL) running for president in 2008, Borger contrasted him with McCain, asserting that Obama’s “penchant for wishy-washy is well documented.”

Indeed, Borger added, “When Obama backed out of a bipartisan, McCain-led group on lobbying reform-to run the Democratic version-McCain exploded. In writing, which almost never happens in the clubby Senate, the Arizonan blasted Obama for his “disingenuousness” and “self-interested partisan posturing.”

This is surprisingly foolish and completely detached from actual events. First, Obama didn’t “back out” out of anything; he differed with McCain about how best to tackle lobbying reform. McCain preferred a task force; Obama preferred committee hearings. Borger’s column simply misrepresents the events as the occurred. What’s more, Borger took McCain’s criticisms at face value, but she’s mistaken — McCain’s over-the-top harangue was completely unjustified, and Obama deserved credit for taking the high-road.

Second, for Borger to suggest that “no one would accuse McCain of equivocating on anything” is sheer folly.

Indeed, I’ve been keeping a list.

* McCain criticized TV preacher [tag]Jerry Falwell[/tag] as “an agent of intolerance” in 2002, but has since decided to cozy up to the man who said Americans “deserved” the 9/11 attacks.

* McCain used to oppose Bush’s [tag]tax cuts[/tag] for the very wealthy, but he reversed course in February.

* In 2000, McCain accused Texas businessmen Sam and Charles Wyly of being corrupt, spending “dirty money” to help finance Bush’s presidential campaign. McCain not only filed a complaint against the Wylys for allegedly violating campaign finance law, he also lashed out at them publicly. In April, McCain reached out to the Wylys for support.

* McCain used to think that Grover Norquist was a crook and a corrupt shill for dictators. Then McCain got serious about running for president and began to reconcile with Norquist.

* McCain took a firm line in opposition to torture, and then caved to White House demands.

* McCain gave up on his signature policy issue, [tag]campaign-finance reform[/tag], and won’t back the same provision he sponsored just a couple of years ago.

* McCain was against presidential candidates campaigning at Bob Jones University before he was for it.

Moreover, as Media Matters noted, McCain has also equivocated on abortion, intelligent-design creationism, and state support for the Confederate flag.

At a minimum, Borger is offering us a hint of the kind of glowing adulation McCain can expect from the political press corps as we get closer to the 2008 election. I have a hunch we’ll be doing a lot of fact-checking if this U.S. News column is any indication.

I have a hunch that our fact-checking will be all for naught, if that jerk gets the nomination.

  • I can’t believe that McCain remains in the picture. Are we that hard up for good candidates on either side?

  • If Mccain could have “equivocated” as well in the skies over Viet Nam as he does now in the Senate—he’d have never been shot down. Stupid McCain—you cost your country a perfectly good aircraft…and now you want people to let you be President? After eight long years of “the Decider?”

    Um…I don’t think so….

  • “Are we that hard up for good candidates on either side?” – eddiejones

    Who do you want? (ex-Tennessee Senator and current Law and Order actor) Fred Thompson?

    I don’t know who the Republican’ts can run, with both George Felix Allen Junior and Ricky “Man on Dog” Santorum imploding. Frist, Brownback, Duncan Hunter?

    All pathetic choices.

    On the other hand I think the Democrats have about half a dozen good candidates.

  • Assumption 1. Due to the usual Democratic fecklessness, American troops will still be dying at a significant rate in a chaotic Iraq.

    Assumption 2. Faced with the question “in or out of Iraq” McCain will equivocate to the point where even Borger (one of the top 10 in Washington cluelessness) notices.

  • I worked with Gloria Borger on our college paper for a couple of years when she was an upperclass editor and I was a freshman grunt. I didn’t like her then and have seen nothing to change my opinion.

  • If a magazine is going to publish an article written in an alternate universe it should be required to indicate as much in the tag line.

    Also, Borger the ignorant, uninformed baboon needs to learn that one cannot have a penchant for wishy-washy any more than one can have a penchant for any other adjective. Daft jackass.

  • God, that’s annoying. Borger repeats the “McCain reined in Obama for being too partisan” canard, even though it was *McCain* who said “I’m not working with you on your bill; YOU have to work with me on MY bill.” Because, as McCain said, a Democrat-sponsored bill wasn’t going to go anywhere.

    Gosh, Gloria, why wouldn’t a Democrat-sponsored bill go anywhere?

    Could it be… PARTISANSHIP?

    *REPUBLICAN* partisanship? Aided and abetted by John McCain? Mr. Moderate Maverick himself?

    Aided and abetted by John McCain’s fan club in the media, who enable him to seize the sole power to define what’s acceptable partisanship?

    No! Must…not…think…that! Does…not…compute! Argh! Head…exploding…from…cognitive…dissonance!!!

    Grow a brain, you stupid Republican hack-puppet. And start doing your fucking job instead of letting Karl Rove stick his hand in your, um, back, and move your mouth for you.

  • In the days following the 2004 election, Gloria Borger opined in the pages of U.S. News that much of what “ailed” Blue America could be fixed if we just listened to more country music. Our “problems” were deeply rooted in our lack of familiarity with the wit and wisdom of Toby Keith, among others. After reading that article I concluded that she could never have anything to say that would be of value – beyond the laugh factor. Looks like she is determined not to let me down. She is but another parrot for boring, conventional wisdom. Original thinking is beyond her.

  • The Republicans have had it as their motto that they create their own reality. Reporters, however, are supposed to write about the current reality and not the ones Republicans would wish to have.

    Borger views herself as a verbal puppetmaster, able to alter reality by what she writes. But if she looked in the mirror, she’d only see a partisan hack staring back.

  • Sounds like the media are getting the narrative ready for 2008. Same old strong Republicans vs wishywashy dems. But information is too easily dissimianted (sp?) these days for that kind of narrative to hold. It seems to me that those kind of media stories will become more and more irrelevant to political discussion. I doubt the Gore saying he invented the internet meme would get the kind of traction now that it did then. Just look at the list you have NOW, that contradicts the narrative before McCain is even nominated.

  • That’s remarkable that in the end, John McCain always takes a quite different position than the one he took originally.

    Look at the points on the left side of CB’s list and place your hand over them- then look at the Republican’s policies that remain on the right hand side. I mean, just wow. That’s the real face of John McCain.

    It seems John McCain is playing a leverage position for the Republicans. If all the Republicans were hard-asses, no Dems might ever listen to them. But if one seems like he goes to another side some times, he might be useful for approaching the Dems from a different angle.

  • McCain equivocated on the Geneva Convention. He successfully kept the wording while emasculating the intent by letting Bush & company define torture.

  • McCain seems intent on closing the time gap between his unequivolcal position on one side of an issue before being equally unequivocal on the other side…

    According to today’s TPMCafe/Election Central, McCain was campaigng for a Repub buddy Roscam and sang a paean to all our soldiers, who sacrifice for us. Those who’ve lost their limbs but continue with their lives and are proud of their service got a particularly warm encomium.

    Roscam happens to be running against Tammy Duckworth, whom he once accused of wanting to cut and run from Iraq. Unfortunatelly, Tammy can’t do it even if she wanted to — she’s lost both her legs in Iraq.

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