A noun, a verb, and POW
John McCain's protective mantra
A noun, a verb, and POW
Dick Polman, Inquirer National Political Columnist
DENVER - Democrats are trying to have some fun at John McCain's expense by passing out oversized buttons emblazoned with the slogan, "Ask Me How Many Houses I Own" - they're suddenly ubiquitous on the 15-block downtown pedestrian mall - and some of the politicians are working the topic into their conversations. When McCain's name came up during a panel discussion earlier today, Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar quipped, "People who live in seven houses shouldn't throw stones." And when Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius got to the convention podium early this evening, she joked that McCain has added new lines to an old American homily: "There's no place like home. And a home. And home. And home."
So what is McCain's latest strategy to blunt the potential damage of his admission that he can't enumerate the family residences without the assistance of staff?
Play the POW card, shamelessly so.
There once was a time, back in his "maverick" days, when the fawning Washington press corps wrote at great length about how McCain was (supposedly) reluctant to talk about his POW experience for political purposes. This actually wasn't true; during his first congressional race, when McCain was accused of being a carpetbagger because he had moved to the district in order to run for office, he got his opponent to back off by declaring that "the place I lived longest in my life was Hanoi." In the late '90s, when he was ensnared in the Keating S&L scandal, he huffed to inquisitive reporters that "even the Vietnamese didn't question my ethics." Nevertheless, his fans in the Washington press spread the myth that McCain didn't do such things.
Well, he did it yet again last night, playing the POW card on Jay Leno's show. (By the way, this was the celebrity politician's thirteenth appearance on Leno, pulling him even with Jennifer Love Hewitt. Barack Obama has appeared once.)
And when Leno quipped about the candidate's housing cluelessness, thereby suggesting anew to a mass audience that McCain's life bears no resemblance to the lives led by average Americans, the GOP candidate immediate dove for political cover by donning the old prison garb:
"Could I just mention to you, Jay, a moment of seriousness. I spent five and a half years in a prison cell. I didn't have a house. I didn't have a kitchen table. I didn't have a table. I didn't have a chair. And I didn't spend those five-and-a-half years because, not because I wanted to get a house when I got out."
Good grief, what's next with this guy? He must be a blast around the house: "Cindy, I refuse to take out the garbage. I lived in garbage for five and a half years." But seriously folks, I can hear him now, on the campaign trail: "To those who impugn my honor by pointing out that I now support permanent Bush tax cuts for the rich after having voted against them, I need only mention that, after all the suffering I endured for five and a half years, I have now earned the right to change my mind."
Using the POW years for political inocculation may be a shameless tactic, but, for a sizeable number of voters, it probably works. Which is why he has always done it, despite occasional claims that he would never stoop to such a thing. Witness this McCain remark, from 1999: "One of the things I've never tried to do is exploit my Vietnam service to my country, because it would be totally inappropriate to do so."
Although if he keeps trying to duck criticism in this manner, Joe Biden (updating his old quip about Rudy Giuliani's 9/11 mantra) may well be compelled to lament that McCain's candidacy is basically a noun, a verb, and POW.
Exactly jwad56!!! Obama view on taxes is a tool to execute "social justice" and redistribute wealth. Not an unfortunate necessity to operate a government. Obama wants to raise taxes; which will yield a crippled economy and expanded government and McCain wants to reduce taxes and government. Obama's tax hike will affect everyone directly or indirectly.— thelastRepublicaninPhilly
Comment removed.- JeffA is right, some on this board have gotten downright mean. I would just like to offer some perspective. On Monday night, Obama said he was in St Louis with the Girardeau family while the screen said he was in Kansas City. Now, has anybody on this board called him less than intelligent or question his mental faculties since he did not seem to know which city he was in at the time? No.— tom - wilmington, de
- I'm going to try to dispel a few myths here. First, Rezko did not buy Obama a house. Obama bought his house beside an empty lot that Rezko bought at the same time, and Obama bought a 10' wide strip of that lot from Rezko, paying a little OVER the fair market price. That's the extent of their land deal. Obama did not direct Rezko $14mill in taxpayer dollars. Obama wrote a letter asking for funding for a $14mill senior center, a worthy project in its own right, for which Rezko was one of the contractors (all of which happened BEFORE Rezko was indicted). So, how many houses has Obama bought with help from a felon? NONE, ZERO. Go to factcheck.org if you don't believe me. If all you GOP defenders of Truth, Justice, and the The American Way would actually take the time to find out what the truth IS, it would certainly make your arguments more interesting, and perhaps even valid.— chredon
- Hey wasn't that a great speech that Hillary gave? The Clintons are having a great convention; Hillary will surely be a front-runner in 2012. How about some of those great things she said about Obama. “Shame on you, Barack Obama. … Enough with the speeches and the big rallies and then using tactics that are right out of Karl Rove’s playbook.” — Feb. 2, 2008 speech “Senator Obama holds up his original opposition to the war on the campaign trail, but he didn’t start working aggressively to end the war until he started running for president. So when he had a chance to act on his speech, he chose silence instead.” — March 17, 2008 speech “Last summer he basically threatened to bomb Pakistan, which I don’t think was a particularly wise position to take.” — Feb 26, 2008 Democratic debate “So you decide which makes more sense: Entrust our country to someone who is ready on day one … or to put America in the hands of someone with little national or international experience, who started running for president the day he arrived in the U.S. Senate.” — Dec. 3, 2007 speech “Well, you know, Senator Obama, it is very difficult having a straight-up debate with you because you never take responsibility for any vote, and that has been a pattern.” — Jan. 21, 2008 Democratic debate “If we don’t have universal health care, we will be betraying the Democratic Party’s principles. … Sen. Obama’s plan does not and cannot cover all Americans.” — Nov 28, 2007 speech “I know Sen. McCain has a lifetime of experience that he will bring to the White House. And Sen. Obama has a speech he gave in 2002.” — March 2008 campaign commercial “Now, I could stand up here and say, ‘Let’s just get everybody together. Let’s get unified.’ The skies will open, the light will come down, celestial choirs will be singing and everyone will know we should do the right thing and the world will be perfect.” — Feb. 23, 2008 rally— thelastRepublicaninPhilly
- thelastRepublicaninPhilly- Make sure you don't cash that Social Security check, refuse medicare, and god forbid you lose a job, please do not collect unemployment. Tell your hungry family, while you are losing your home- due to astronomical medical bills, tell them you are a proud Republican picking yourself up by your boot straps.— pagoda
- While you are on factcheck.org also check out about how Obama is lying about the whole "infanticide" issue.— jwad56
- tom - wilmington, de, rock stars never know what city they are in.— thelastRepublicaninPhilly
- Comment removed.
- Want to know how to fix social security? Make it the same as when it started. You don't get benefits until you reach the age of the average life span of an American. I think everyone could get behind that except the Whiner Class and the Freeloader Class.— jwad56
- Thanks Gibba Mang for that nugget. Was your cousin a volunteer? They like to compare Obama to JFK. What was one of his famous quotes? Oh yeah Ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country. I guess you will be first in line for Obama's handouts.— jwad56
- Blue Hen Tom: "Electrical malfunction" was the official excuse the Admiral got for his boy McAmnesty. People in the know on board the Forrestal say the disaster was triggered by Juvenile Delinquent McAmnesty gunning his engine (f-rting)on the jet behind him, an antic that is strictly prohibited among jets parked together ready to take off for the obvious (or should be obvious) reason that it jeopardizes the safety of other jets and the ship itself. Why was McAmnesty immediately rescued by his Daddy from angry crew members if he was not responsible? No doubt lots of garbage in those files (Songbird, sexual molestation of subordinates during his one year "command" in Florida, etc.) if we could review them. Why not come clean, "war hero" and release all files? Let's have a complete examination of your claims like we did with the Swiftboat witnesses.— Straight Talk Hawk
- Right, Tom. We shouldn't keep trying to tie McCain to Bush, since McCain wasn't a member of the Bush Administration. All McCain did was vote in support of Bush's policies 95% of the time, and reverse his position on taxes and torture to match those of our esteemed President. But OBVIOUSLY, we should tie Obama to Rezko and Ayers, because, you know, they live in the same town and have been in meetings together. The proof that McCain's policies match those of Bush is in the Congressional Record and in his own speeches. The proof that Obama supports domestic terrorism and shady land deals is only in the mind of right-wing conspiracy theorists.— chredon
- Is there a freaking reason this blog can't post my comments? Let's try again. jwad - cool to be rude about someone's soldier cousin. Really helps make your and the other neocon's points about respecting McCain's service resonate.— squintymc
- Comment removed.
Cited by the Columbia Journalism Review as one of the nation's top political reporters, and lauded by the ABC News political website as "one of the finest political journalists of his generation," Dick Polman is a national political columnist at the Philadelphia Inquirer. He is on the full-time faculty at the University of Pennsylvania, as "writer in residence." Dick has been a frequent guest on C-Span, MSNBC, CNN, NPR and the BBC. He covered the 1992, 1996, 2000, and 2004 presidential campaigns.
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