McCain Objects To Interior Nominee Because He Once Compared Ronald Reagan To George W. Bush
McCain Objects To Interior Nominee Because He Once Compared Ronald Reagan To George W. Bush
During a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing yesterday, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) threatened to oppose President Obama’s pick deputy secretary of Interior, David Hayes, over comments that Hayes had made about former President Ronald Reagan in a 2006 report for the Progressive Policy Institute. “I will be considering seriously whether I can support your nomination or not,” said McCain.
At the hearing, McCain read aloud from Hayes’ article:
“The conservative political agenda in the West is grounded in hoary stereotypes about the region and its people” and that “out of this conservative world view emerges the stereotypical Western man (and it is unquestionably a ‘he’)—a rugged, gun-toting individualist who fiercely guards every man’s right to drill, mine, log, or do whatever he damn well pleases on the land” and that “Like Ronald Reagan before him, President Bush has embraced the Western stereotype to the point of adopting some of its affectations—the boots, brush-clearing, and get-the-government-off-our-backs bravado.”
Though McCain did not defend Bush, he said that Hayes’ reference to Reagan was “highly offensive.” “You had to throw Reagan in there?” asked McCain after Hayes said he regretted the “overly florid” prose of the article.
McCain has long revered Reagan, even callling himself a “a foot soldier in the Reagan revolution.” But Will Bunch, who recently wrote a book debunking myths about Reagan, notes that “Reagan and much more so Bush really were urban cowboys with a strange obsession for brush clearing that seemed to evaporate the same hour their presidencies expired.” Bunch calls McCain’s threat against Hayes’ nomination both “chilling” and “anti-speech.”
But McCain’s clash with Hayes is more than just “chilling.” It also continues his move away from his early efforts to not needlessly hold up Obama’s qualified nominees. Just yesterday, McCain came out against another Obama nominee, Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Chris Hill, who has been nominated to be ambassador to Iraq.
That’s right, a member of one political party has, in the past, said something disparaging about a prominent member of the other party. This is McCain’s objection. Seriously. How on earth would you staff an administration of people who pass that test?
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I see Archie has dropped his “Stop the presses!” mantra in favor of an equally vacuous phrase.
I guess ridicule has some effect on our friend Archie.
March 13th, 2009 at 1:49 pmWell, since George W. Bush compared himself to Ronnie Raygun whenever it would help him with his base, I don’t know what McCain’s complaint is here — particularly since I don’t recall Johnny McLame having any trouble about the comparison being drawn by Dumbya himself…
March 13th, 2009 at 1:51 pmMcCain doing everything and anything to stay relevant.
March 13th, 2009 at 1:55 pmPoor John McRage. Once again, his failure to seek treatment for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder upon returning from Vietnam is a liability.
March 13th, 2009 at 1:56 pmI’m sorry, but the spin on this post is making me dizzy. It’s a complete misreading of what McCain said (not that it’s not a stupid reason). He’s not even referencing Bush, he’s offended that Ronald Reagan the Holy has been insulted as a stereotypical Western man. Not to mention, McCain undoubtedly thinks of himself as “just like Reagan” in politics and cowboy booted magnificence.
The real point is that Hayes’ characterization of “conservative political agenda in the West” is spot-on. McCain doesn’t deal with this, of course, perhaps because it’s indisputable, but he freaks out about sullying the perfect image of Ronald Reagan. That should have been the direction of this post.
March 13th, 2009 at 1:57 pmRemember the troll that would shout ‘FREE FISH ON DECK’ (or something to denote a possible ‘flip flop’ or whatnot?
Always good for lulz
March 13th, 2009 at 1:58 pm.
Well Archie B,
Principles…
… Or Ideology?
I mean, we all know why you refuse to answer my rhetorical questions I’ve been posing days after days…
… And it’s not because your principled, NO?
You know,
REDEEMING QUALITIES to immoral behavior….
.
March 13th, 2009 at 1:59 pmI’m missing something here.
Raygun and Shrub both ran on that platform. They openly admitted it. So how is that an insult ?
March 13th, 2009 at 2:00 pmHey man, downvoted for irrelevancy and offensiveness.
I don’t like McCain, I certainly didn’t vote for him.
I think his objection here is ridiculous.
That said, making fun of ANYONE, Republican or Democratic, for having PTSD (or not) is beyond the pale my friend.
March 13th, 2009 at 2:01 pm.
So huggie McBush doesn’t like people comparing the god RayGun to WAR CRIMINAL Bush…
… Funny, because just months ago, I swear I heard McBush proclaim, “I can’t quit you Bush!”
.
March 13th, 2009 at 2:03 pmCome on mccrappy. You are more petty than ever.
This is our United States you are f-ing with.
March 13th, 2009 at 2:03 pmIs that the 11th commandment?
Thou shall not disparage St. Ronnie
Grow up!
PEACE
March 13th, 2009 at 2:05 pmLiberal Traitor,
Not making fun. PTSD is VERY serious and needs attention. I have a friend who is a psychiatrist working with returning Iraq vets. They need a lot of care.
I honor John McCain’s service to the country. However, he needs to take better care of himself. After all, he wanted/wants to be our President.
Cheers.
March 13th, 2009 at 2:06 pmI thank God every day that McCain did not win the election.
March 13th, 2009 at 2:07 pmIn truth, Senator McCain likely objects to this as much as he objects to the use of synthetic materials in women’s undergarments – which is to say, not at all.
The “slight” is a MacGuffin. With an ideology that has bankrupted not only the country, but their own party, the Republicans’ only hope of survival is to slow down any and all efforts by the Obama adminstration – by any means necessary.
“Party of No”?
No.
Party of Saboteurs.
March 13th, 2009 at 2:07 pmWhile I’m certainly no fan of Ronnie Raygun, at least Bonzo did not say the Army can kick in the doors of American homes without a warrant and put them in a concentration camp to be tortured.
But chimpy did just that, as revealed recently.
March 13th, 2009 at 2:08 pmMcCain is still the sore loser as he is using something that he has done himself. Yes McCain has memory lost. John ran for President and told African Americans how sorry he was for not supporting Dr. King’s Hoiiday. He reached out for forgiveness and of couse a vote. But because it didn’t happen he’s back to forgetting things and lying. Maybe if John McCain would read so of the things Reagam he might be acting like a fool. Reagan expressed guilt over the fact he didn’t little to nothing to improve the lives of minorities during his two terms as President. Notice how no one is harping on that.
March 13th, 2009 at 2:15 pmRepukes will look for any reason to be obstructionists. It must make them feel important. Of course, the lemmings that follow them will believe their self-serving obstructionism is warranted.
March 13th, 2009 at 2:17 pmThis only makes me more thankful that he’s not president. I suspect he would want the same kind of fawning admiration.
March 13th, 2009 at 2:21 pmMcCain also professes to buy into the myth of the western cowboy maverick, so he probably felt insulted by Hayes’s portrayal.
We are soooo luckly that he is not President.
March 13th, 2009 at 2:21 pmOld Man continues to yell at the clouds.
March 13th, 2009 at 2:22 pmShuuuuuut uuuuuup, Archieeeeee
March 13th, 2009 at 2:23 pmThere’s the whole fake cowboy similarity, I’ll give Hayes that. They were/are also both “trickle-down-your-leg” theorists and both are traitors to their country. Reagan had his little Iran/Contra and his merry sandonistas and Bush had his seemingly endless list of traitorous and illegal acts. Seems that they were similar in many ways, unfortunately for America.
March 13th, 2009 at 2:25 pmJohn the Curmudgen is shaking his cane so much that I fear the senate sgt-at-arms will take it away from him before he hits someone. Hike up your plaid Bermudas there, gramps, they’re slipping down around your argylls.
March 13th, 2009 at 2:25 pm“The conservative political agenda in the West is grounded in hoary stereotypes about the region and its people” and that “out of this conservative world view emerges the stereotypical Western man (and it is unquestionably a ‘he’)—a rugged, gun-toting individualist who fiercely guards every man’s right to drill, mine, log, or do whatever he damn well pleases on the land” and that “Like Ronald Reagan before him, President Bush has embraced the Western stereotype to the point of adopting some of its affectations—the boots, brush-clearing, and get-the-government-off-our-backs bravado.”
I’m only sorry that Hayes felt he needed to regret the “overly florid prose”.
This statement is dead on. The only thing Hayes left out are the cattle ranchers who lease public lands for $1.00 an acre a year, and still expect the government to fence their grazing allotments and drill wells for them.
March 13th, 2009 at 2:25 pmThere is no place in the West you can go on public lands without stepping in cowshit, except for designated wilderness, and it’s a running battle to keep them out of that.
Wasn’t Hayes supposed to have been the token environemntalist at interior, the sop thrown the the ‘left’ by the Obamistas after appointing Salazar, a tool of oil and agribusiness?
March 13th, 2009 at 2:26 pmWHO CARES?!?!
I WISH THE PROGRESSIVE MEDIA WOULD STOP EVEN ACKNOWLEDGING THAT THIS IDIOT IS STILL ALIVE….LET ALONE GIVING THEM A PLATFORM FOR THEIR STUPIDITY.
QUIT IT!
March 13th, 2009 at 2:28 pmIt becomes more obvious every day that McCain is just super pissed off and resentful about losing the general election to Obama. What an absolute lame excuse for not supporting a nominee.
March 13th, 2009 at 2:29 pmShorter: Like Reagan, Bush was all hat, no cattle…
March 13th, 2009 at 2:30 pmOnce again showing anyone who watches, that he’s a bad-a$$ maverick.
March 13th, 2009 at 2:32 pmLemme get this straight. McCain WILL support a presidential appointee who supports torture, even though McCain himself condemned it (at least up to that point). But McCain WON’T support a presidential appointee who once said something critical about Reagan????? WTF?????
Torture OK.
March 13th, 2009 at 2:34 pmCriticizing Reagan not OK — and apparently a far worse transgression.
Got it.
Archie B. the troll continues to be an example of why we say that reality has liberal bias. He takes a fact and turns it into an earth shattering statement? Give me a freaking break. Trolls are dumb as dirt.
March 13th, 2009 at 2:41 pmAnd isn’t it nice that after dumping his first wife, neither Nancy nor Ronnie Raygun ever spoke to McIIIrd again!
March 13th, 2009 at 2:42 pmA Recipe for a lovely Western-style Republican stewpot:
Add one Hollywood cowboy Reagan, slightly dicey.
Add one Yale faux-cowboy Bush, sauteed first.
Add one rancid southwestern McCain, thoroughly aged to inperfection.
to this festering brew, added some slices of whitey Steele, an Olive Branch from Limbaugh (hard to find!), some whale blubber and a moose head from way up North.
Stir carefully, otherwise, this may turn into a Whig stew.
March 13th, 2009 at 2:43 pmThis from one of the Keating 5, a guy crashed 3 of our expensive fighter jets.
Reagan was a tool. A blunt object with a dull blade. He’s the one who started this sh*t.
March 13th, 2009 at 2:46 pmmisshusseinmolly, I really wish you were a journalist and could ask these hypocritical politicians your spot-on questions.
March 13th, 2009 at 2:47 pmsomeone should just tell the old man that reagan’s dead, reagan hated him for being such a shithead to wife #1, and then kick him in the nads
March 13th, 2009 at 2:49 pmOf course, McCain’s manufactured outrage is doubly ironic. For one, Hayes’ ham-handed characterization of the conservative mythology of westerners in general and Ronald Reagan is largely accurate. Second, James Watt, Reagan’s own Interior Secretary, not only helped perpetuate that ethos, he was among the most “highly offensive” Cabinet figures in modern American history.
Watt, after all, was eventually forced to resign after his infamous September 1983 slur of his team at the Interior Department:
“I have a black, a woman, two Jews and a cripple. And we have talent.”
But as Time detailed in its October 1983 post-mortem, Watt’s slash and burn policies on strip mining, land use, wilderness management and oil drilling were his true legacy:
His legions of eager critics will not have James Watt to kick around any more. Indeed, Watt will probably be most remembered for the kind of righteous, goading declarations that finally forced his resignation: long before his crack about “a black, a woman, two Jews and a cripple,” Watt had said that the electorate is composed of “liberals and Americans” and that Beach Boys fans are riffraff. But Watt did more than just make inflammatory pronouncements. He pushed through radical changes in Interior policy, most of which are likely to endure at least as long as Ronald Reagan is President. And some elements of the Watt legacy are irrevocable.
– More here –
March 13th, 2009 at 2:52 pmArchie B Says:
March 13th, 2009 at 2:54 pmFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU—
Reagan, the “conservative” that gutted social programs only to spend twice as much on defense. Real fiscally responsible, that Reagan.
March 13th, 2009 at 2:59 pmMcCain suffers from Obama envy. He will never get past his resentment of the President. This man is petty and not too bright. His pettiness was so evident in the race. His campaign promoted racism of the worse kind. And now is his chance to throw a spanner into the works if he can.
I wonder if AZ will be stupid enough to keep him. He is a mean, petty, grouchy old man. He has nothing going for him. Except his ideology.
March 13th, 2009 at 3:26 pmReagan was the best president this country ever had
March 13th, 2009 at 3:28 pmGo back to sleep, Simpleton.
March 13th, 2009 at 3:34 pmA simple man Says:
Most accurate troll name ever.
March 13th, 2009 at 3:36 pmI, for one, am reeeaaally tired of getting trickled on.
March 13th, 2009 at 3:36 pmGrampy McSame says – My friends back in the day we all worshipped Ronnie, why is was a real cowboy, you could tell by watching his movies, those weren’t just hollywood trash, those were documentaries, real life, how it was, why when Ronnie would have parties we would all show up in our western gear, he used to call me Ethel and ask me how my chickens were doing, why he had lots of funny things he would say that made no sense at all, but that was just him having fun, why once he grabbed Cindy by the butt and humped her right there, she loved it, that trollop c**t, it was sorta strange when she sucked his d*ck right there on the floor, and I thought, what a great idea, I think I will also…that was one wild night…uh oh, dropped a load in the panties again.
Uh, Grampy, he had a disease, himmer something or other, not hummer.
March 13th, 2009 at 3:42 pmSaint Ronnine the good? The man who, while a private citizen, negotiated with a hostileforeign power (treason anyone?)? The man who spearheaded the anti-union jihad, that’s still taking place today? The man who played a critical part in dismantling and destroying the savings and loan industry? He’s only a good president if you compare him to #43. From the cannonization of Regan, Oh Lord, Deliver Us!
March 13th, 2009 at 3:52 pmMy favorite bumper sticker from the Reagan era:
Jane Wyman was right.
March 13th, 2009 at 3:56 pmSay goodbye to his Royal Highness McCain and his whole stuffed shirt entourage.
March 13th, 2009 at 4:04 pmThis is getting out of hand. McCain and his cohorts are looking for any little so-called “offense” so they can block someone’s appointment.
March 13th, 2009 at 4:11 pmSTFU.
How much power do these guys have – or think they have?
Grandpa McDroopy Drawers needs his bottle and a nappypoo.
Seriously. Is this all the Republicans have?
Their entire plan for getting out of the deep deep well they’re in is to put everyone and everything associated with Obama down so they can somehow rise to the surface?
Hope floats and so does a “Baby Ruth”
March 13th, 2009 at 4:23 pmsimpleton says:
just remember, Bonzo declared ketchup is a vegetable for school lunches.
March 13th, 2009 at 4:24 pmIt was our defense spending that won us the Cold War, Brown Acid.
March 13th, 2009 at 4:55 pm—
So what did we gain from that win again?
McCain once again reveals how incredibly petty he is.
March 13th, 2009 at 5:01 pm53. Hussein et al.
But that is exactly why I am surprised. The things you mention makes Reagan a total @#$%#@$% to the liberals but a saint to the Neocons. The Neocons have been pushing to put him on money (even before he died).
So saying Bush is like Reagan resembles comparing your mother to Mother Theresa.
How can McCain take umbrage at that ?
March 13th, 2009 at 5:11 pmI’m sure you can think of over 10 million Eastern European reasons, DB, as you’re no dummy.
— Isn’t that that “old Eastern Europe”?
March 13th, 2009 at 5:14 pmSo Nettles how do you feel about Reagan aiding terrorists? Were you with him or against him? See terrorism is this really bad thing and terrorists are even worse…
March 13th, 2009 at 5:15 pmIt was Reagan who spent untold billions on spaced based missle defense systems, which, after 20+ years of research, still doesn’t work. It was Reagan who gutted Pell Grants and government backed student loans, stating that the government shouldn’t be in the business of paying for “intellectual curiosity”. It was Reagan who cut mental health funding, then getting irate about homeless mentally ill people sleeping on steam grates. It was Reagan who made the insane statement that trees cause pollution. It was Reagan who secretly and illegally sold arms to Iran in order to fund his (also) illegal war in Honduras and Nicaragua. Remember the hoards of communists massing at the Mexican border, preparing for the invasion into Texas? Another Regan lie. Should I go on? I could do this for another hour.
March 13th, 2009 at 5:25 pmMary, Mary
Quite contrary,
how did you end up an old loser from Arizona, anyway??
March 13th, 2009 at 5:44 pm“reagan was the best simpleton this country ever had for a president”
-Fixed it for ya, dummy.
March 13th, 2009 at 5:46 pmMatt Yglesias writes:
[...] This is McCain’s objection. Seriously. How on earth would you staff an administration of people who pass that test?
with lobbyists, if you’re mccain…
March 13th, 2009 at 6:34 pmA simple man Says:
Reagan was the best president this country ever had
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
THAT is the stupidest statement ever written in the English language
March 13th, 2009 at 6:52 pmBlasphemy!
March 13th, 2009 at 8:32 pmI see McCain is still a right wing baby.
March 13th, 2009 at 8:36 pmSomeone should tell Grandpa McSame, he lost. He is no longer relevent. The goof McSame is senile.
March 13th, 2009 at 8:47 pmJust send the old fart a box of depends, some xanax, a little viagra, and a walker, please?
March 13th, 2009 at 9:12 pmWell you know, I sort of disapprove of McCain and his sliming of Obama paling around with terrorists.
It is just that I don’t have a Senator vote and I would use such a vote wiser than McCain is childishly displaying and promising.
March 14th, 2009 at 1:43 amWhere are Cindy McCain and Meghan McCain?
Aren’t they embarrassed by this man?
I would be highly embarrassed if John McCain were my husband and father.
Surely they want something better for him than to be remember as a grumpy old man who can’t get over the fact that he lost an election to the black guy.
John McCain is 72 years old. And while many 72 year olds live to be much, much older, this is not promised. At his age one would expect him to be thinking about his legacy, which is now is just as an obstructionist.
I wonder what he thinks about at the end of the day? You know that time of day whem most people look back on their days’ activities and get the satisfied feeling of a job well done.
March 14th, 2009 at 4:09 amNettles Says:
the brown acid Says:
——————————————————————————–
Reagan, the “conservative” that gutted social programs only to spend twice as much on defense. Real fiscally responsible, that Reagan.
**************************************************************
It was our defense spending that won us the Cold War, Brown Acid.
I would say that’s a pretty good return on the dollar.
Actually, it wasn’t U.S. spending on our defense, but the Soviets spending on their hopeless war in Afghanistan. They broke their own bank with that 10-year long quagmire. Try reading some historical facts.
March 14th, 2009 at 8:59 amMcCain + Reagan = 0
March 14th, 2009 at 10:07 ammccain sux
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