In a recent interview with Der Spiegel, Robert Kagan, a leading member of John McCain’s war cabinet, dismissed wrongdoing by the Bush administration in the run-up to the Iraq war as “conspiracy theories”:

SPIEGEL: Isn’t it true that Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld took advantage of the outrage over the 9/11 terrorist attacks to strike Iraq? Is it even possible anymore to deny that the war was based on manipulation, exaggeration and flat-out lies? [...]

KAGAN: In retrospect, we have to admit that Washington could have waited a while longer. That’s a different question. But I think it’s about time we moved beyond this silly conversation and these absurd conspiracy theories.

Matt Duss at the Wonk Room writes, “We can ‘move beyond this silly conversation’ when people like Robert Kagan cease pretending that Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Feith, et al were arguing in good faith about the need to invade Iraq, and stop dismissing the overwhelming evidence of their dishonesty as ‘conspiracy theories.’”

After Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin was chosen as Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) running mate, the McCain campaign and its conservative supporters began arguing that Alaska’s proximity to Russia meant that Palin had foreign policy experience. But the claim soon became a punchline, being brutally mocked by Saturday Night Live. In mid-September, top McCain adviser Mark Salter defended the argument, saying that “they have, like, fishing disputes“:

I asked Salter if he had a sense of Governor Palin’s grasp of national security issues. He brought up the Russia talking point, amplifying it thusly: “They border Russia. People mock that. But they have, like, fishing disputes.”

This strained talking point has been pushed before. In early September, when “Republican strategist” Tyler Harber pushed it on Fox News, Fox’s Gregg Jarrett replied, “Oh, come on. That’s a far cry from major international experience.”

Today in an interview with CNBC, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) blasted unions:

But this is — we’ve been talking about it for a long time — this is a threat to the fundamental of labor-management relations. It’s fundamental to democracy, the right to have a secret ballot.

The way that Senator Obama envisions — and the unions, and this is their big push, they’ve gotten commitments from Senator Obama and Senator Biden — union organizer goes to your house and says, Hey, Joe, can I sign you up for the union?

That is — we all know what that opens the door to. It’s dangerous for America, it’s dangerous to small business. And I think it’s a threat to one of the fundamentals of democracy.

McCain added that he would veto the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) in a “New York minute.” Watch it:

Despite McCain’s claim, the EFCA preserves workers’ rights to secret balloting. However, it also gives workers the option to form a union through a “card-check” system, in which a union would be recognized if a majority of workers signed a petition testifying to their desire to organize.

Right now, there isn’t a true balance in “labor-management relations”; management has all the power. Workers can only use a card-check system if their employers approve it. CAPAF’s David Madland writes on other problems with the current process:

Employers legally can force workers to attend anti-union meetings, including “one-on-one conversations” with supervisors, which happens in over 90 percent of organizing campaigns, according to a Cornell University study. And according to research by University of Oregon professor Gordon Lafer, workers often are pressured by employers to reveal their private preferences for the union. This takes the “secret” out of the “secret ballot” — the most common conservative mischaracterization of current union organizing rules.

Not only do unions improve the quality of life for American workers, but workplaces with a card-check system experience less hostility and polarization between management and employees. ThinkProgress received a reaction to McCain’s comments from Tom Woodruff, International Executive Vice President of SEIU and Director of the Strategic Organizing Center at Change to Win:

Workers who unite in unions have fairer pay and benefits—and when working families have more in their paychecks to spend, it stimulates economic growth. … Workers need a simple, easy way to join unions without management interference. The Employee Free Choice Act provides for workers to have a union when a majority sign up — majority rule, that is the American Way.

McCain’s indignation that organizers may go to people’s homes to persuade them to vote a certain way also seems odd. Perhaps he will be pulling his door-to-door canvassing operation as well?

Transcript: Read more

In today’s White House press briefing, Dana Perino said the White House would “decline to comment” on the recent conviction of Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) and whether he should resign:

Q: Sen. McCain today said Sen. Stevens should resign. Does the President believe Sen. Stevens should resign?

PERINO: Well given that Sen. Stevens has said that he’s going to fight his conviction and that he’s going to appeal, and that is his right to do, since it’s going to be a matter of ongoing litigation, we’ll decline to comment for now.

Watch it:

After Stevens was indicted, Bush attended an event in Alaska alongside Stevens. “The United States military has had no better support and stronger friend than Sen. Ted Stevens. Thank you for coming, Senator,” Bush said in August.