McCain Issues A Challenge: ‘Nobody Can Name’ An Issue I Have Flip-Flopped On
McCain Issues A Challenge: ‘Nobody Can Name’ An Issue I Have Flip-Flopped On
On ABC’s The View today, host Joy Behar complained to John McCain that “you used to be more of the Maverick, then you sort of turned.” “In what way?” McCain asked. “You became much more lockstep, I think, with your party, with George Bush’s policies,” Behar answered, adding, “I don’t see the old John McCain. … I understand why — you want to get elected.” McCain issued this challenge in his defense:
I’ve been through this litany before, where I say, “ok, what specific area have I quote changed?” Nobody can name it. … I am the same person and I have the same principles.
McCain argued that on issues — “whether it be spending, whether it be climate change, whether it be the conduct of the war in Iraq, whether it be torture of prisoners” — he is “the same guy.” Watch it:
ThinkProgress has gladly taken up the McCain challenge. We’ve compiled a document that lists the policy areas on which McCain has changed his position.
The flip-flop document notes that McCain has changed his position even on the four areas he cited — spending, climate change, the war in Iraq, and torture of prisoners:
SPENDING: The McCain campaign has said that it will balance the budget by the end of McCain’s first time. But chief economic adviser Douglas Holtz-Eakin said McCain would balance the budget by the end of his second term.
CLIMATE CHANGE: In 1999, McCain opposed lifting the ban on offshore drilling, saying that it was just the “special interests in Washington” that advocated it. In 2008, McCain announced that “there are areas off our coasts that should be open to exploration and exploitation.”
IRAQ CONDUCT: He said in 2004 that Donald Rumsfeld was doing “a fine job” and was “an honorable man.” But by 2008, McCain was arguing that he was “the only one that said Rumsfeld had to go.”
TORTURE: In 2005, McCain pushed President Bush to sign a bill that would prohibit “cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment” of anyone in U.S. government custody. But in 2008, McCain voted against the Intelligence Authorization Bill, which requires the intelligence community to abide by the same standards as articulated in the Army Field Manual and bans waterboarding.
See our full document here. Steve Benen has compiled another flip-flop list here.
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ATTN: FISH ON DECK!
September 12th, 2008 at 2:03 pmNo words to describe this… the old man has become simply absolutely shameless at this point. McCain is clearly blurting out the first words that pop into his brain without considering in the least, does this make sense?
Or perhaps he can no longer remember what he just said, 15 minutes earlier, or simply doesn’t care.
September 12th, 2008 at 2:04 pmHow many flip-flops? Let me count the ways. In addition to those listed above, we can add his opposition/support of the new GI Bill comes to mind.
September 12th, 2008 at 2:05 pmSend the lists to the “View”–see if they care or are just part of the right wing echo chamber.
September 12th, 2008 at 2:06 pmHe’s kidding — right?
Jon Stewart does clip montages on a regular basis of Flippy McSpin doing his thing.
What I don’t understand is why McCain is running his campaign as if it’s a couple of hundred years ago and we have no way of recording what he’s said and done in the past. He may have no knowledge of how to operate a computer, a recorder, or a video camera, but he should have grasped by now that the rest of us do, and his trail of words and positions is out there for all to see.
September 12th, 2008 at 2:06 pmThe interviewer should have had a prepared list of the “Flip-Flops” and started naming them…
…This one I call Fred…
…This one I call Alicia…
Sort of like Hurricanes.
September 12th, 2008 at 2:06 pmIt really is senility. Better be quiet about it though, you REALLY don’t want to piss this particular old coot off.
September 12th, 2008 at 2:08 pmOh, and that list of 42 flip flops is nice material to send to some of these so called reporters that the MSM employs now a days.
September 12th, 2008 at 2:11 pmthis, and the previous thread about the VIEW, makes it obvious that joy and barbara do NOT read ThinkProgress…
too bad…
but, they got these replies out of him… exposed the lies…
September 12th, 2008 at 2:11 pmOOOOOH !!! Will McCain pay me a bounty for every instance I can find ?
Pick me! Pick me !
Can we make this a question on “Are you Smarter than a 5th Grader” ?
September 12th, 2008 at 2:11 pmSpeaking of hurricanes, I just received a rumor that gas prices are going to exceed $5 due to Ike.
September 12th, 2008 at 2:11 pmAgain, just rumors.
Don’t kill the messenger.
Of course, the biggest flip-flop of all was when he totally rolled over on his own preferences for a running mate and knuckled under to the Reich-wing by accepting someone that he had met once for 15 minutes and talked to on the phone once.
September 12th, 2008 at 2:12 pmI am still waiting for my $50.00/hr job picking fruits and vegetables from the last challenge from this a$$ clown.
September 12th, 2008 at 2:12 pm.
TP should contact the Senator through his daughter’s web site seeing her’s gets more hits than his… He obviously reads Meghan’s blog…
.
September 12th, 2008 at 2:12 pmSo, all the View audience now believes that Palin never advocated any special pork barrel earmarks.
But, since no one on the View countered McCain’s words with the truth, the audience now believes the Palin lies.
Tell me again, how this is good for us.
September 12th, 2008 at 2:12 pmmisshusseinmolly Says:
“… but he should have grasped by now that the rest of us do, and his trail of words and positions is out there for all to see.”
It increasingly appears that he, and his whole campaign, really are that out of touch w/ reality.
How else can you account for such blatantly ridiculous statements like “You can see Russia from Alaska”, or “she knows more about energy than anyone else in the whole country”?
It’s getting harder and harder to find the right words to actually capture this degree of incoherence and insanity.
September 12th, 2008 at 2:14 pmMiss Hussein Molly - getting beyond my sarcasm, you’re hitting what I consider the worst part of it.
Even if he didn’t know about the Internets, anyone with any skills at all would have learned from their mistakes. (Well other than McCain and Bush - but that’s a different matter).
September 12th, 2008 at 2:14 pmDRxJ Says:
Speaking of hurricanes, I just received a rumor that gas prices are going to exceed $5 due to Ike.
Again, just rumors.
__________
Oil prices are either staying flat or falling slightly in the moment.
(I’ve taken to watching the price fluctuate, kinda like a spectator sport…)
September 12th, 2008 at 2:17 pmi’m not sure who is learning from who anymore…
Russia: S Ossetia ‘was our 9/11′
September 12th, 2008 at 2:18 pmAljazeera.net - 26 minutes ago
Dmitry Medvedev, Russia’s president, has said Georgia’s attack in August on the pro-Russian breakaway region of South Ossetia was his country’s equivalent of the September 11 attacks on the United States in 2001.
We can solve our energy crisis if we can just attach McCain to a generator and power the country off of the energy supplied by his flip flopping.
September 12th, 2008 at 2:19 pmmisshusseinmolly Says:
What I don’t understand is why McCain is running his campaign as if it’s a couple of hundred years ago and we have no way of recording what he’s said and done in the past.
It doesn’t matter what he says. Their voter base is made up of bigots who believe Obama is a terrorist, and they aren’t interested in checking the facts.
September 12th, 2008 at 2:19 pmNow THAT’S a challenge I can get behind. :-)
September 12th, 2008 at 2:20 pmTRoS,
September 12th, 2008 at 2:21 pmThe problem is not oil, it’s refining capacity. They shut down a bunch of refineries on the Texas coast.
TP should contact the Senator through his daughter’s web site
We should all do this. Her email address is meghan@mccainblogette.com
September 12th, 2008 at 2:22 pmWhich is the precise reason that all this bogus ‘drill now’ talk from the wingnuts won’t affect gas prices at all.
September 12th, 2008 at 2:22 pmOh, please, let him be booked to appear on The Daily Show soon! Jon Stewart will happily display a montage of flip-flops (thanks miss h.m.) to which, I’m sure, McCain will respond, “But I didn’t ask you.”
It’s time for McCain’s free risde in the media to come to an end. All the Media BBQ Bribes in the world won’t change the fact that McCain 2008 is more Bush 2004 than he is McCain 2000.
September 12th, 2008 at 2:23 pmCareful, Tom. If we all did that, they would claim that TP was encouraging its readers to “shut down her blog”. And they won’t say with what (the truth). :)
September 12th, 2008 at 2:25 pmBURN IN HELL LIAR.
September 12th, 2008 at 2:25 pmDRxJ Says:
Speaking of hurricanes, I just received a rumor that gas prices are going to exceed $5 due to Ike.
Already above $5/gallon in coastal Texas, DRxJ — I think that’s what the rumor is referring to, rather than gas price spikes in the rest of the country. Although with oil guys still in charge of the country, who knows?
BTW, anybody have any predictions on how fast federal aid and money will get to Texas after Ike? NoLa is still recovering years after Katrina, but Dumbya will no doubt be sure that his beloved Texans (and those pretending to be Texans while they live there) are taken care of REAL quickly…
September 12th, 2008 at 2:25 pmWhere are the Democrats… let alone real journalists!?!?!? Why is it being left up to Barack Obama, and Barack Obama alone, to be the lone defender of truth.
This whole thing has become so incredibly ridiculous! Isn’t there at least some kind of law, with at least a modest fine, for using the media to influence an election with known and easily refutable lies?
Bring on that counterpunch, Barack!
September 12th, 2008 at 2:25 pmOK Obama, it’s time for that commercial. You know, the one that shows how McBush has flipped on all major issues. I don’t understand why they haven’t done this yet. But, now is the time. And run the ad in every state. It’s about time that someone put this “maverick” lie to rest.
September 12th, 2008 at 2:27 pmJohnny B. Goode!
Deep down in Arizona close to Mexico
Way back up in the cactuses where it never snows
There stood an ancient mansion made of gold and wood
Where lived a a corrupt politician named Johnny B Goode
Who’d never learned the difference between Sunni or Shia so well
But he could pretend to chase Osama to the gates of Hell
Go! Go! Go! Johnny!
Go! Go! Go! Johnny!
Go! Go! Go! Johnny!
Go! Go! Go! Johnny!
Go! Go! Johnny B. Goode!
He used to carry his bribe money in a gunnysack
Go sit beneath a tree and count his Keating kickbacks
Old lobbyist on K street would see him sittin’ in the shade
Laughing at the doubletalk and flip flops he made
The people passed him by they would stop and say
Oh my but that little old mummy really hates the gays
Go! Go! Go! Johnny!
Go! Go! Go! Johnny!
Go! Go! Go! Johnny!
Go! Go! Go! Johnny!
Go! Go! Johnny B. Goode!
Once upon time the state of Arizona couldn’t host a superbowl
Because it was legislated by a group of white supremacist trolls
The bigots were led by an angry fascist who was a goose-stepping man
A millionaire, senator who belonged to the Klu Klux Klan
Johnny B Goode was a maverick when it came to recognizing MLK
So the old cracker donned his klan robe and voted against a holiday
Go! Go! Go! Johnny!
Go! Go! Go! Johnny!
Go! Go! Go! Johnny!
Go! Go! Go! Johnny!
Go! Go! Johnny B. Goode!
His mother told him someday you will be an old man
And you will be the leader of a murderous criminal clan
Many people will be blown to bits from miles around
To see you launch the nukes and take us all down
Maybe some day you will make mushroom clouds so bright
Sayin’ “Johnny McCain pushed the button tonight”
Go! Go! Go! Johnny!
September 12th, 2008 at 2:28 pmGo! Go! Go! Johnny!
Go! Go! Go! Johnny!
Go! Go! Go! Johnny!
Go! Go! Johnny B. Goode!
I think they felt sorry for him and didn’t want him to
September 12th, 2008 at 2:29 pmself-destruct on their show.
DHJST ~
September 12th, 2008 at 2:29 pmI picked a shitload of tomatoes from my back yard yesterday, took me two hours.
Can I bill the McIIIrd campaign for my $100.00?
MXsquirrel ~ Nice!!
September 12th, 2008 at 2:30 pmIs there an issue for which his position hasn’t changed?
As Colbert pointed out last week, that’s why they’re the change ticket: they’ve changed their position on everything.
September 12th, 2008 at 2:31 pmI am the same person and I have the same principles.
Then why didn’t you win the Republican nomination in 2000?
September 12th, 2008 at 2:32 pmWaltTheMan Says:
TRoS,
The problem is not oil, it’s refining capacity. They shut down a bunch of refineries on the Texas coast.
________
True… I just googled gas prices and found an article about prices spiking in Canada today. The Canucks seem to think it has more to do w/ gouging than actual shortages. The article also said supplies are expected to be down by 15% to 20% until after the hurricane passes and this price increase to be a temporary thing.
Didn’t find any articles on the American market, but didn’t look all that hard either.
September 12th, 2008 at 2:36 pmMovie review for The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor starring John McCain
This is John McCain’s first movie appearance since his cameo in Wedding Crashers. McCain has once again played himself this time starring as the film’s protagonist, the Mummy. It was a clever casting move by the film’s directors, as no makeup was needed to portray McCain as an ancient, desiccated, withered cadaver.
The movie begins when McMummy falls out of his chariot and is captured by the Syrians. He spends five and a half years being tortured in a Syrian prison camp and being brainwashed into a secret Syrian supporter. When he returns to Egypt his wife who has faithfully waited for him, falls off a camel and is crippled. McMummy, becomes a politician in the Egyptian parliament and is then involved in a political scandal. He is known as one of the “Cairo Five,” a group of five Egyptian politicians who took bribes and kickbacks to reward lucrative government contracts to a wealthy businessman. McMummy is attracted to the businessman’s secretary who accidentally burns a pile of records that implicated him deeper in the scandal. He starts cheating with her, and it doesn’t hurt that she’s a wealthy meade heiress. McMummy applies for a marriage license with the beer heiress even though he is still married to the woman was crippled in the camel accident. McMummy uses his war record to help people forget about his corruption issues. He styles himself a “maverick” by doing maverick things like voting against a holiday for “Mummy Luther King,” an Egyptian holy man who was murdered for preaching for peace and equality between the Egyptian races. McMummy’s conservative followers aren’t to into things like peace and equality, they love war and so does the McMummy. He does other maverick things like voting against the minimum wage 19 times and against extending healthcare benefits to veterans of foreign wars like he is.
McMummy’s political ambitions burn for him to be Pharaoh someday but by the time he gets the opportunity he is snake bit by his political rival a former Pharaoh’s son “Bushotept.” Bushotept is a brain-damaged figurehead but his handlers maliciously slander McMummy spreading rumors of his having a Nubian baby and of being a homicidal maniac from his years in a Syrian prison. McMummy is defeated by Bushotept and he falls in line to serve the new Pharaoh. McMummy lusts for war after war with Egypt’s neighbors and he helps Bushotept gin up a war with Babylon so they can seize its rich resources. A million Babylonians are slaughtered in the war and thousands of young Egyptians are needlessly butchered in Bushotept’s invasion and occupation of the fertile crescent. McMummy is in ecstasy from all of the destruction caused by the war with Babylon. He takes credit for the carnage and urges a war with Persia. After eight years of war and economic ruin from Bushotept and his cronies it’s McMummy turn to run for pharaoh. He is now older then the dead sea scrolls and he can’t even remember how many pyramids he owns.
When it comes time for McMummy to pick a running mate he picks Cleopatra’s religious fanatic sister Sarahpatra. Sarahpatra believes Osiris, God of the dead, wants to burn up the earth asap. She also believes Osiris is against healthcare for children and wants tax cuts for the rich. The faithful are delighted with his choice even though she cant find Babylon on a map and is one McMummy heartbeat away from being Pharaoh.
September 12th, 2008 at 2:36 pmYea Wayne, I’ve been wondering that the whole time he’s been the nominee. Why is he so great now, but not good enough in 2000? If he knows how to fix all these things, why couldn’t he do it eight years ago?
September 12th, 2008 at 2:36 pmWayne A. Schneider Says:
“It’s time for McCain’s free risde in the media to come to an end.”
Don’t worry. They promised us months ago that they would be going after him for the General Election after his free pass for his gaffefest while Obama and Clinton were going at it… It’ll be any day now, I’m sure.
I was watching CNN this morning (for some stupid reason) and an Obama surrogate was on and was asked why Palin “scares” him. He said that she went to the librarian in Alaska and asked about censoring books… the interviewer quickly interrupted him and said that she would not allow discussion on that subject unless there was physical proof in her hands and that it had already been refuted… he tried to say that it had not, but she cut him off again.
A few minutes later, after 1 or 2 completely different segments, the interviewer came back on and said “I just want to make sure that everyone is on the same page here, it actually wasn’t confirmed that the book censorship had been refuted.”
Damage done.
September 12th, 2008 at 2:40 pmIs there a prize?
flipflop.bi30.org
I’m up to 80 now. Updated daily.
September 12th, 2008 at 2:41 pmWhere are all the trolls jumping in to defend McDepends? Has the posting awards been retracted or have they all run out of talking points or maybe their mom’s have taken away their computer privileges.
September 12th, 2008 at 2:47 pmSchool will be letting out soon on the east coast. They will be here.
September 12th, 2008 at 2:48 pmToo bad McCain won’t put his wife’s money where his mouth is…and pay those who expose his flip flops a $1,000 for each one documented.
September 12th, 2008 at 2:49 pmLast year, in a Republican presidential debate, McCain said:
I am prepared. I need no on-the-job training. I wasn’t a mayor for a short period of time. I wasn’t a governor for a short period of time.
Does that count as a “flip-flop”?
September 12th, 2008 at 2:49 pmHe said that she went to the librarian in Alaska and asked about censoring books
As long as the Obama surrogate worded it that way, he was absolutely correct. My understanding is that she asked about censoring certain books, she didn’t actually ban them. That alone should be enough to scare every American (even the ones in Alaska). Any person who wants ANY book banned from a library is not interested in educating young minds, only in indoctrinating them.
September 12th, 2008 at 2:50 pmLet me make this easy for McFloppy and everyone else:
flipflop.bi30.org
80 Flip-flops, gaffes & outright deceptions. Updated near daily.
(I probably won’t be able to update my list for a few days as I’m about to be hit by Hurricane Ike and the power is sure to go out. - Mugsy)
September 12th, 2008 at 2:51 pmJohn McIIIrd Term thinks they can’t name the flip flops because he doesn’t know how to use a computer.
September 12th, 2008 at 2:53 pm“I’ll just lie, and by the time they get back from the library after leafing through old newspapers I’ll be elected!”
ralph the wonder llama Says:
Last year, in a Republican presidential debate, McCain said:
I am prepared. I need no on-the-job training. I wasn’t a mayor for a short period of time. I wasn’t a governor for a short period of time.
Does that count as a “flip-flop”?
Not sure, but it certainly puts to rest the idea that the McCain Campaign (for whom John McCain does not speak) thinks Sarah Palin is “qualified” to be president just because she has “executive experience” (in the form of being a mayor for a short period of time and a governor for a short period of time.)
September 12th, 2008 at 2:53 pm#5 Missmolly, here’s the Daily Show link to one of those montages. Funny stuff.
http://www.thedailyshow.com/ video/ index.jhtml?videoId=184113&title=John-McCain:-Reformed-Maverick
September 12th, 2008 at 2:54 pmYou have to be kidding. Someone please tell the old man that the technology today captures his words on audio and video and we have all his flip flops and lies to play over and over and over while he yells at the clouds. The old man should learn to use the internets.
September 12th, 2008 at 2:59 pmfrom forbes
September 12th, 2008 at 3:01 pmA thought on McCain = Hero
I’ve actually known some heroes. I’ve learned that…
1. Heroes never consider themselves to be heroes
2. Heroes never talk about ‘what’ made them a hero
3. Most true heroes are already dead
McCain only fits with #3.
September 12th, 2008 at 3:05 pmFred ~ Overheard by fly on wall in Oil company strategy room:
Well, Charley, looks like we’ll have to take a couple’a refineries off line for a while, the price of crude’s droppin agin.
Yeah, Clyde, we’ll tell em that we have to upgrade the tse-tse fly monitoring systems, the suckers’ll believe what ever we say…
September 12th, 2008 at 3:06 pmScaryBrownHusseinChick (ThinkOutsideTheBush) Says
September 12th, 2008 at 2:19 pm
It doesn’t matter what he says. Their voter base is made up of bigots who believe Obama is a terrorist, and they aren’t interested in checking the facts.
__________________________________________________________
Ah yes — I keep forgetting that he’s not running as John McCain. He’s running as “notObama”, and as long as that’s the main point of his campaign, it doesn’t matter what he says. All that matters is that he stays white.
September 12th, 2008 at 3:07 pmSeriously, is he senile?
September 12th, 2008 at 3:09 pmRUCerious Says:
You’re absolutly right, they manipulate the price by manipulating the supply…..criminals with no police.
September 12th, 2008 at 3:10 pmThe Dogfather Says
September 12th, 2008 at 2:25 pm
Already above $5/gallon in coastal Texas, DRxJ — I think that’s what the rumor is referring to, rather than gas price spikes in the rest of the country. Although with oil guys still in charge of the country, who knows?
________________________________________________________
I fully expect gas prices to soar here in North Carolina, as much of our supply comes from gulf refineries. I was down to my last quarter tank this morning, and I chose to refuel before work instead of waiting to do it on my way home as I usually do.
We’re just watching and waiting. If Ike hits hard, gasoline prices won’t be the only casualty.
September 12th, 2008 at 3:17 pmMcCain Issues A Challenge: “‘Nobody Can Name’ An Issue I Have Flip-Flopped On.”
Typo there. Should be “haven’t“.
Cheers,
September 12th, 2008 at 3:20 pmso - who’s going to send the list/link to McCain’s campaign - can’t send it to him since he doesn’t do email or web sites.
September 12th, 2008 at 3:24 pmHello Bloggers, it’s me M.C. Rove! Welcome to Republican Radio!
Time for a little musical interlude.
It’s a remake of the Louis Armstrong classic, What A Wonderful World.
By The New Rat Pack
John McCain, George W Bush, Lindsey Graham, and Joe Liberman
With music from the Fox News Spinners and the GOP Choir
What A Wonderful Surge
I see Hummers of green…….. red mist too
I see em kabloom….. for me and for you
And I think to myself…. what a wonderful surge.
I see body bags of black….. shrouds of white
Bright scorching days….dark sweltering nights
And I think to myself …..what a wonderful surge.
The colors of a folded flag…..so empty when they die
Tears on the faces…..of the families saying bye
I see moms wringing hands….crying what do we do?
Theyre really sayin ……we’ll miss you
I hear inconsolable little kids cry…… the fallen won’t see them grow
They’ll miss their dad…..more than McCain will ever know
And I think to myself …..what a wonderful surge
(instrumental break)
The colors of a folded flag…..so empty when they die
Tears on the faces…..of the families saying bye
I see moms wringing hands…..crying what do we do
Theyre really sayin ……we’ll miss you
I hear babies cry…… I watch them grow
September 12th, 2008 at 3:28 pmThey’ll miss their mom…..more than McCain will ever know
And I think to myself …..what a wonderful surge
Yes I think to myself …….what a wonderful surge.
IMMIGRATION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He not only flip flopped he wrote the bill and then said NO.
September 12th, 2008 at 3:30 pmAgreed, It doesn’t matter how many lies he or Pliluin say.
September 12th, 2008 at 3:31 pmAmericans are not ready for a black President. How else do you explain a race that every indicator should have democrats at least a few points ahead? Americans aren’t ready for a woman prez either, but they can justify that by saying she won’t actually be prez.
#Wayne A. Schneider Says:
Not sure, but it certainly puts to rest the idea that the McCain Campaign (for whom John McCain does not speak) thinks Sarah Palin is “qualified” to be president just because she has “executive experience” (in the form of being a mayor for a short period of time and a governor for a short period of time.)
I am still waiting for some enterprising journalist (if there are any left out there) to ask McBush what his “executive” experience is. No one has pointed out that fallacy in the new line of BS the right is dolling out to us.
September 12th, 2008 at 3:51 pmMore video from The View here http://tpzoo.wordpress.com/ 2008/ 09/ 12/ john-mccain-gets-spanked-on-the-view/
September 12th, 2008 at 4:12 pmIn fact the women on The View kicked McCain’s butt today. See the link I posted above. And that’s not even all of it. There’s more at Youtube. And from what I sayw they didn’t give the Hasselbeck moron a chance to speak. Even MSNBC mentioned it this morning.
September 12th, 2008 at 4:16 pm“McCain Issues A Challenge: ‘Nobody Can Name’ An Issue I Have Flip-Flopped On”
___________________________________________________________
That’s because his flip-flops are like potato chips — nobody could stop at just one.
September 12th, 2008 at 4:29 pmOh please, let this be his Gary Hart moment. Come on traditional media, he’s DARING you to show the American people all the times he has flipped positions.
“Follow me around. I don’t care. I’m serious. If anybody wants to put a tail on me, go ahead. They’ll be very bored.” - Gary Hart
September 12th, 2008 at 4:31 pmYou could fill an hour of TV with clips of McCain lying and another with his flip flops.
September 12th, 2008 at 4:51 pmYou mean nobody has done the split screen on him yet? There has to be at least an hour’s worth of material just on the flip flops alone!
September 12th, 2008 at 4:53 pmClipped from a few weeks ago, I forget where, sorry.
Maverick McCowflop’s cowflops:
* McCain supported the drilling moratorium; now he’s against it.
September 12th, 2008 at 4:53 pm* McCain strongly opposes a windfall-tax on oil company profits. Three weeks earlier, he was perfectly comfortable with the idea.
* McCain thought Bush’s warrantless-wiretap program circumvented the law; now he believes the opposite.
* McCain defended “privatizing” Social Security. Now he says he’s against privatization (though he actually still supports it.)
* McCain wanted to change the Republican Party platform to protect abortion rights in cases of rape and incest. Now he doesn’t.
* McCain thought the estate tax was perfectly fair. Now he believes the opposite.
* He opposed indefinite detention of terrorist suspects. When the Supreme Court reached the same conclusion, he called it “one of the worst decisions in the history of this country.”
* McCain said he would “not impose a litmus test on any nominee.” He used to promise the opposite.
* McCain believes the telecoms should be forced to explain their role in the administration’s warrantless surveillance program as a condition for retroactive immunity. He used to believe the opposite.
* McCain supported storing spent nuclear fuel at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. Now he believes the opposite.
* McCain supported moving “towards normalization of relations” with Cuba. Now he believes the opposite.
* McCain believed the U.S. should engage in diplomacy with Hamas. Now he believes the opposite.
* McCain believed the U.S. should engage in diplomacy with Syria. Now he believes the opposite.
* He argued the NRA should not have a role in the Republican Party’s policy making. Now he believes the opposite.
* McCain supported his own lobbying-reform legislation from 1997. Now he doesn’t.
* He wanted political support from radical televangelists like John Hagee and Rod Parsley. Now he doesn’t.
* McCain supported the Lieberman/Warner legislation to combat global warming. Now he doesn’t.
* McCain pledged in February 2008 that he would not, under any circumstances, raise taxes. Specifically, McCain was asked if he is a “‘read my lips’ candidate, no new taxes, no matter what?” referring to George H.W. Bush’s 1988 pledge. “No new taxes,” McCain responded. Two weeks later, McCain said, “I’m not making a ‘read my lips’ statement, in that I will not raise taxes.”
* McCain is both for and against a “rogue state rollback” as a focus of his foreign policy vision.
* McCain says he considered and did not consider joining John Kerry’s Democratic ticket in 2004.
* In 1998, he championed raising cigarette taxes to fund programs to cut underage smoking, insisting that it would prevent illnesses and provide resources for public health programs. Now, McCain opposes a $0.61-per-pack tax increase, won’t commit to supporting a regulation bill he’s co-sponsoring, and has hired Philip Morris’ former lobbyist as his senior campaign adviser.
* McCain has changed his economic worldview on multiple occasions.
* McCain has changed his mind about a long-term U.S. military presence in Iraq on multiple occasions.
* McCain is both for and against attacking Barack Obama over his former pastor at his former church.
* McCain believes Americans are both better and worse off than they were before Bush took office.
* McCain is both for and against earmarks for Arizona.
* McCain believes his endorsement from radical televangelist John Hagee was both a good and bad idea.
* McCain’s first mortgage plan was premised on the notion that homeowners facing foreclosure shouldn’t be “rewarded” for acting “irresponsibly.” His second mortgage plan took largely the opposite position.
* McCain vowed, if elected, to balance the federal budget by the end of his first term. Soon after, he decided he would no longer even try to reach that goal.
* In February 2008, McCain reversed course on prohibiting waterboarding.
* McCain used to champion the Law of the Sea convention, even volunteering to testify on the treaty’s behalf before a Senate committee. Now he opposes it.
* McCain was a co-sponsor of the DREAM Act, which would grant legal status to illegal immigrants’ kids who graduate from high school. Now he’s against it.
* On immigration policy in general, McCain announced in February 2008 that he would vote against his own legislation.
* In 2006, McCain sponsored legislation to require grassroots lobbying coalitions to reveal their financial donors. In 2007, after receiving “feedback” on the proposal, McCain told far-right activist groups that he opposes his own measure.
* McCain said before the war in Iraq, “We will win this conflict. We will win it easily.” Four years later, McCain said he knew all along that the war in Iraq war was “probably going to be long and hard and tough.”
* McCain said he was the “greatest critic” of Rumsfeld’s failed Iraq policy. In December 2003, McCain praised the same strategy as “a mission accomplished.” In March 2004, he said, “I’m confident we’re on the right course.” In December 2005, he said, “Overall, I think a year from now, we will have made a fair amount of progress if we stay the course.”
* McCain went from saying he would not support repeal of Roe v. Wade to saying the exact opposite.
* McCain went from saying gay marriage should be allowed, to saying gay marriage shouldn’t be allowed.
* McCain criticized TV preacher Jerry Falwell as “an agent of intolerance” in 2002, but then decided to cozy up to the man who said Americans “deserved” the 9/11 attacks.
* McCain used to oppose Bush’s tax cuts for the very wealthy, but he reversed course in February.
* On a related note, he said 2005 that he opposed the tax cuts because they were “too tilted to the wealthy.” By 2007, he denied ever having said this, and insisted he opposed the cuts because of increased government spending.
* 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 supported a major campaign-finance reform measure that bore his name. In June 2007, he abandoned his own legislation.
* McCain opposed a holiday to honor Martin Luther King, Jr., before he supported it.
* McCain was against presidential candidates campaigning at Bob Jones University before he was for it.
* McCain was anti-ethanol. Now he’s pro-ethanol.
* McCain was both for and against state promotion of the Confederate flag.
* McCain decided in 2000 that he didn’t want anything to do with former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, believing he “would taint the image of the ‘Straight Talk Express.’” Kissinger is now the Honorary Co-Chair for his presidential campaign in New York.
So his mind is completely gone.
September 12th, 2008 at 5:23 pmSo, does he lie or is he demented?
September 12th, 2008 at 5:27 pmI think that he lies.
http://mccainflips.blogspot.com/
http://mccainflips.blogspot.com/
http://mccainflips.blogspot.com/
http://mccainflips.blogspot.com/
September 12th, 2008 at 6:35 pmThis is simple and easy: McSame lies everytime he says he is a reformer and a staight talker. He is a liar everytime he says he chose a reformer as running mate.
September 12th, 2008 at 7:37 pmSay what you want about McCain, but this is an interesting article on the McCain administration.
September 12th, 2008 at 8:32 pm74 mtobias
Why limit yourself to one of the above ?
He could be demented and lying both !
September 12th, 2008 at 10:50 pmDumb Question: If McCain is such a reformer, how come he hasn’t reformed Congress in the many, many years that he has been there ?
September 12th, 2008 at 10:54 pmf#ck putting up a document. a picture is a thousand words. both the daily show and i beleive moveon.org have both made video collages of his numerous flip flops. can some please link to one and pass it along to TP?
September 13th, 2008 at 5:26 amTheRealFlipFlopper.com list some too
September 13th, 2008 at 1:44 pmThe REAL challenge is to find an issue McSenile HASNT flip-flopped on
September 14th, 2008 at 3:02 amToo easy, Grampy. How about 61 flip-flops:
John McCain — 61 Flip-Flops and Counting - Steve Benen, Alternet
And that was two months ago. He might have flip-flopped on his flip-flops by now. Are we counting Caribou Barbie’s flip-flops, too?
September 14th, 2008 at 7:33 pmThis is why American Democracy is such a struggle. Every time, and I mean every time, the opposition lies or simply throws out some challenge, that lie or that challenge has to be met head on. Think Progress and others who put together these lists do all Americans a favor. Eight years ago, Bush could say something inane and the most the media would do would be to report that Bush said this and Gore said that. You people store up information and when its needed, it is disseminated and can be used by anyone to disprove the lie, big or small. For that I am grateful. Maddow just put her own short list as talking points and I would bet she or her staff read this blog.
October 23rd, 2008 at 9:31 pmThere is nothing a goat won’t eat and McCain won’t speak.
October 26th, 2008 at 9:03 am