Topic: 
Pownce it!
Karl Rove’s Deceptive McCain Debate Strategy Backfires + Palin Not Qualified Says 60% in Latest Poll
If there ever was a topic McCain was suppose to command in the Presidential debates was Foreign Policy and McCain could not close the deal in the first debate with Barack Obama . This was McCain’s best shot at scoring significant points with Independent voters with his huge advantage of 26 years in Congress (21 of those years in Senate), but he somehow found a way to miss the opportunity! Complete debate transcripts available to view/download at end of article.
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And … it is now apparent through McCain’s erractic behavior this week that his on-again, off-again and then on again debate status was to give the appearance of just an unprepared old man… so that maybe Obama would’t prepare enough in some naive way for the scheduled debate and be caught off-guard. Meanwhile McCain was preparing feverishly for the debate under the deceptive guise up to the very morning of the debate in which there most likely wouldn’t be - due to the fact John McCain was too busy solving the nation’s financial crisis.
It’s no surprise that public opinion was initially deeply annoyed at the prospect of a skipped debate - as Barack Obama would have made a mockery of a McCain no show. Surprisingly McCain’s erratic attendance behavior mirrors his Senate attendance, as John McCain has missed more votes than any other elected official. Even Senator Tim Johnson (D-ND), who was debilitated with a brain annorism last year cast more votes - 311 votes missed (48.4%), 332 votes cast, but who has recovered and is back to work in a wheel chair and expected to win re-election this November. John McCain has missed 412 votes (64.1%), with only 231 votes cast. Even Barack Obama’s (McCain’s opponent), short Senate career - 295 votes missed (45.9%), 348 votes cast exhibits more participation than John McCain’s in his 21 year career. One has to wonder what John McCain actually does in the Senate, as he certain cherry picks the legislation - when he decides to participate.
Some Controversial Facts
John McCain totally neglects green/alternative energy or conservation even though he consistently brags about his friends in the alternative energy industry - he conveniently misses the vote when it comes up and he receives "0" from League of Conservation Voters (LCV), 2007 with a lifetime LCV score of only 24%.
At the same time McCain sides with BIG Oil and the Nuclear Power Industry, accepting $291,658 from BIG Oil in 2007 alone, while voting for big oil tax breaks and against incentives for renewable energy and efficiency. McCain recently proposed to cut the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 25 percent. This would have reduced ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips taxes by $1.2 billion each in 2007 while during the same period each was reporting record windfall profits at the existing 35% tax rate.
McCain called for the end to tax breaks (2000 Presidential race against George W. Bush), for oil and gas companies in a campaign pledge on tax cuts, ending his era as the so called maverick. Source: http://www.americanprogressaction.org/issues/2008/mccain_gw_record.htm l
McCain Misrepresented Military Veterans Support
McCain: "I Have a Perfect Voting Record" From "All" The Veterans Service Organizations, like the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the American Legion, and all the other veterans service organizations is because of my support of them. …
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The other hugh voting category - military veterans that John McCain says are his friends and supporters are UNLIKELY,according to recent legislation, John McCain has been on the wrong side of vote for or maybe McCain just decided it wasn’t not important enough to show up. Disabled American Veterans Web site (DAV.ORG) scored him voting for veterans issues 11 times while voting against veterans issues 16 times, with five votes not scored. The same veterans organization scored Senator Barack Obama as 17 for, one against and one not scored. The Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (iava.org) would only give Sen. McCain a "D" rating while Sen. Obama rated a "B+." Of course, this is the 2006 rating. According to the Vietnam Veterans of American Web site (vva.org), Sen. McCain has cosponsored zero pro veteran bills, while Sen. Obama has cosponsored eight. The American Legion (legion.org) and the Veterans of Foreign War (vfw.org) do not score or rate members of Congress. McCain’s rating from Disabled American Veterans, is not the highest to begin with, but it too has fallen dramatically since 1999 as the maverick era for McCain ended and he fell in line lockstep with the Bush Administration. McCain’s rating started at 66% in 1999, but has fallen to just 20% by 2006. In 2004 and 2005, it was 50%. |
Recent Veterans Legislation
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Date |
Bill Title |
Vote |
Outcome |
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05/22/2008 |
NV |
Amendment Adopted - Senate |
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01/22/2008 |
NV |
Bill Passed - Senate |
|
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10/01/2007 |
NV |
Bill Passed - Senate |
|
|
02/02/2006 |
N |
Motion Rejected - Senate |
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11/17/2005 |
N |
Motion Rejected - Senate |
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10/05/2005 |
N |
Motion Failed - Senate |
Vote Key (for above)
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Y |
Yea |
John McCain Puts Tax Cuts For The Wealthy Before Any Veterans Benefits
McCain Voted At Least 27 Times Against Veteran’s Benefits. Since arriving in the U.S. Senate in 1987, McCain has voted at least 30 times against ensuring important benefits for America’s veterans, including providing adequate healthcare. [2006 Senate Vote #7, 41, 63, 67, 98, 222; 2005 Senate Votes #55, 89, 90, 251, 343; 2004 Senate Votes #40, 48, 145; 2003 Senate Votes #74, 81, 83; 1999 Senate Vote #328; 1998 Senate Vote #175; 1997 Senate Vote #168; 1996 Senate Votes #115, 275; 1995 Senate Votes #76, 226, 466; 1994 Senate Vote #306; 1992 Senate Vote #194]
McCain Has Voted At Least 15 Times To Prioritize Tax Cuts And Tax Loopholes For America’s Wealthiest Over Funding For U.S. Veterans. Since his election to the Senate in 1987, McCain has voted at least 15 times in favor of keeping tax cuts and various tax loopholes for America’s top earners, instead of providing valuable funding for United States veterans. [2006 Senate Votes #7, 15, 41, 63, 67; 2005 Senate Vote #343; 2004 Senate Votes #40, 48; 2003 Senate Votes #74, 81, 83; 1996 Senate Vote #115; 1995 Senate Votes #226, 465, 466]
It has become obvious from McCain’s "postpone the debate while I save the country"ploy that even McCain’s own strategist Karl Rove didn’t believe McCain could win the debate honestly and straight up… so the campaign resorted to deception and trickery. But it just wasn’t enough to carry McCain’s senior age and ineptitude. Obama kept up with McCain and in fact did look Presidential with poise and knowledge through the debate process - which is exactly what he had to do. In fact, Obama’s intellectual arguments were clearly what the voters were seeking, and not the folklore and staus quo "me too" sound bites that McCain used time and time again to gloss over being on the wrong side of many issues with the common electorate and not the wealthy elite or religious right that are McCain’s base of supporters.
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Karl Rove George W. Bush
After all, from experience from recent GOP Presidential election campaigns, we are now entering the final four weeks of the campaign - known as the "swift boat" political shenanigan phase where dirty politics will be the norm and NOT the exception. Lets not forget Karl Rove, the George W. Bush GOP strategist and now McCain’s henchman, is the standard bearer of political trickery and deception and one who has made a career from it.
McCain did NOT have a solid command of the facts, only rehearsed sound bites and name dropping of heads of state that he hoped would pass off as good judgement tempered with his 21 years in the Senate + 5 years in Congress to the voters.
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Every opportunity to pounce on Barack Obama was lost by John McCain’s lack of Presidential poise (given his 26 years in the Senate), with his arrogant disrespect of his opponent by not even respectfully acknowledging by directly looking at Barack Obama during the debate - a gross miscalculation by McCain campaign strategist Karl Rove. By anyone’s standard the concept of being likable became more evident as the debate rolled on as a missed opportunity for gruffy John McCain with the stiff arm wave that accompanied what seemed like a forced smile. Did he enjoy being there sharing the podium with Barack Obama or was that below him ?
Cold, aloof and arrogance don’t make MCain or any debator aggressive or smartly out-manuevering their opponent… especially Barack Obama into a me-too defensive posture. Many factual misrepresentations McCain made though deceptive statements that were out-of-context made up McCain’s sound bite strategy replacing intellectual capacity in which many seasoned voters typically associate with a change leaders ability - and which is the central theme of this election, as well as both campaigns.
The self-implied and way pass any prime maverick status that McCain tries to bambozzle the naive voter with, fell flat when the reality of John McCain’s voting record was pointed out and clearly shows that McCain voted with and thereby supported the George W. Bush failed Administration policies of the last 8 years. If there’s one constant to McCain’s 25 years in Congress, the last 21 in the Senate, it’s that McCain has voted with conservatives often enough to have a legitimate claim to have been, as he frequently puts it, "a foot soldier in the Reagan revolution." - GOP campaign strategist Donald J. Devine. See McCain’s Senate voting record at VoteSmart database here.
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McCain’s lifetime rating from the ACU, considered the authority on conservative rankings, is 82.3 That’s because McCain votes with conservatives on key litmus test issues such as abortion, gun control and tax cuts most of the time. And McCain is a strong supporter of the Iraq Invasion & Occupation- almost recklessly.
More Debate Gaffs
The glaring McCain gaffs during the first debate included McCain’s stern condesending lecture of Obama over what McCain characterized as Obama’s confusion between tactics and strategy.
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John Sidney McCain, III touring Iraq
Obama had his comments about strategy correct with the proper applications, even though McCain was a veteran… see examples
| Strategy and tactics are closely related. Both deal with distance, time and force but strategy is large scale while tactics are small scale. Originally strategy was understood to govern the prelude to a battle while tactics controlled its execution. However, in the world wars of the 20th century, the distinction between maneuver and battle, strategy and tactics, became blurred. Tactics that were once the province of a company of cavalry would be applied to a panzer army. It is often said that the art of strategies defines the goals to achieve in a military campaign, while tactics defines the methods to achieve these goals. Strategic goals could be "We want to conquer area X", or "We want to stop country Y’s expansion in world trade in commodity Z"; while tactical decisions range from "We’re going to do this by a naval invasion of the North of country X", "We’re going to blockade the ports of country Y", all the way down to "C Platoon will attack while D platoon provides fire cover". Source: Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_strategy |
Debate transcripts to view or download are here
See latest Washington Post - ABC Poll Sept 29 08′ where 60% believe Palin is NOT qualified here