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The corporate media have a strong rightist bias, which shows in their fawning coverage of John McCain. Even though he is extremely conservative when you look at his overall record, any isolated "moderate" or "maverick" position he takes is trumpeted by his corporate media bootlickers.
Even worse, "Keating Five" McCain is extremely corrupt, having been involved in one of the most costly corruption scandals in US history. When the corporate media even talk about it, they try to spin it to make his behavior seem less reprehensible than it actually was. Here is a link to an excellent article on "Keating Five" McCain's activities and the text for a suggested "Google Bomb."
http://www.stopjohnmccain2008.com/category/keating/
John McCain
Psycho Woman Throws Knives At Children
13 years ago
McCain is a conservative? Right-wing corporate media bias? How far to the left do you have to be before the space-time continuum reshapes your world into nothing close to what the rest of us sees?
Here are some examples of John "Keating Five" McCain's conservatism.
- He opposes lgbt civil rights.
- He opposes the right to choose on abortion.
- He wants to send more troops to Iraq.
- He supports tax cuts for the rich.
- He wants to eliminate funding for Amtrak.
- He voted for the confirmations of Alito, Roberts, and all the rest of Bush's nuttiest judicial appointees.
- He regularly kisses up to the Religious Right.
- He supports privatization of Social Security.
- He voted to suspend Habeus Corpus.
I think you get the point.
The fact that you don't know that a right-winger like McCain is conservative is a perfect example of how strong the conservative/pro-GOP bias of the corporate media is. You have made my point beautifully.
To learn more about right-wing media bias, you can go to http://www.fair.org/
I think someone named anonymous is the one who has really had his/her continuum shifted. To declare McCain a "moderate" is indicative of knowing absolutely nothing about the current state of politics, American and international, and a lack of education into the history of politics.
really. I never said McCain was a "moderate." Thanks for place quotes around something never said -- typical. Conservative-Liberal is a right-left paradigm that has you thinking in two dimensions.
I am no fan of McCain, not because of left-right politics and the rut you all are stuck in -- but right-wrong politics. Who knows what this guy believes in. It's obvious he's courting the Republican base, but that means jack sh*t.
- He was one of only six Republican senators to vote against the Marriage Amendment
- Voted for HMO reform
- Voted for gun control
- Voted against Bush on environmental issues
- Of course, the grandaddy, is campaign-finance reform
Your calling him a "conservative" is just plain wrong and exacerbates the political divide in this country by over-simplifying stuff.
This site is the best example of the lack of intellectual rigor that exists. Of course, there's plenty on the conservative side too, but c'mon you guys really need to stop labeling and start really looking at your beliefs.
The anonymous poster's cherry-picking of McCain's record is misleading and creates a false impression that McCain is not a conservative. Here are some facts that the far-right poster left out.
McCain opposed the anti-same sex marriage amendment on states rights grounds. He supported the anti-same sex marriage that was rejected by Arizona's voters.
McCain's overall record is strongly anti-environment. He voted to confirm all of Bush's nominees for the EPA, the Department of the Interior, and the Justice Department. He voted to confirm judges who would like to distort the constitution to invalidate all environmental laws. McCain also has supported every corporate-controlled trade deal (e.g. NAFTA, CAFTA) which are devastating against the environment. Instead of trying to increase funding for public transportation, "Keating Five" McCain has been on a jihad to defund Amtrak.
McCain has only supported extremely weak campaign finance reform. He has yet to support public financing of campaigns.
Only someone who is ill informed, which is common with our corporate media, or who is batshit crazy right wing would say that McCain is not a conservative.
So the only campaign finance reform that equates to "liberal" ideology is that which advocates public funding of campaigns?
Let's ignore the fact that this is blatantly unconstitutional. Where do you think all the money that's now in politics will go if we have totally public funding of campaigns. Will it disappear? hell no. Now there will simply be more money floating around -- the public and the private. No matter what laws you advocate that limit free speech, those with money will find a way to make it work for their candidate. What you are proposing would simply make it impossible for third parties to muster enough support to ever challenge the big two. Lovely.
Back to McCain. You say I cherry-pick. I say he's a Republican that votes with his party's leader when it's politically expedient and votes liberal when it creates a persona he wishes to portray. He's an idiot - in that we agree. This guy cannot be trusted, flip-flops all over the map, and votes a number of ways that appear both conservative and "moderate."
I never claimed he was a liberal, just that to call him conservative is an oversimplification so that you feel more comfortable compartmentalizing your adversaries into stereotypical boxes. Keep on going, I have friends coming to this site for a good laugh.
Public financing of campaigns is not only constitutional, it is mandated by the equal protection clause of the fourteenth Amendment. The courts have already used that clause to insist that congressional districts not violate one person one vote and eventually will be forced to recognize the fact that private financing of elections disenfranchises the overwhelming majority of voters.
Just because McCain takes a rare moderate position on an issue, like campaign finance reform (and hardly a liberal one at that), that does not change the fact that the Senator's overall record is very conservative.
Stating the fact that John McCain is a conservative should not bother you. You are showing the extreme right's obsession with demanding absolute far-right ideological purity before even acknowledging that someone is conservative.
Again with the dismissal of argument by painting me on the extreme right.
You can call anyone, whatever you want -- after all, you find it quite easy to paint me a Republican and someone on the far right when you have no clue.
My simple point is that this is an oversimplification and it allows you to avoid a real analysis of issues by simply dumping McCain in a bucket and taking pot-shots at him from your self-righteous position from above.
In this comment thread I begin to see some interesting discussion on McCain's history and what his real orientation is. Good. Intelligent people can disagree. This thread is an example of the thoughtful and deliberative argument that is practcally absent from the regular posting.
Whatever your political bias (heck we all have them) at least basic reasoning from the records available should lead us close to evaluating the person's integrity. This article below provides some sharp insight.
www.reason.com/news/show/35983.html
I give him (McCain)credit for putting up one of the best Jeckyl and Hyde acts. Tom Delay should have taken some lessons from him; it would have saved him time at the slammer!
Also, I am in agreement that plugging one hole(s) only leads to other "underground" problems with respect to campaign finance law. Keep everything open and investigate away as needed later. Kinda inefficient but given human nature we have no choice.