How do you explain McCain?

The Bush administration fought hard to defeat Jim Webb's new GI bill. The Bushites said it was bad because it provided educational benefits to soldiers who served "only" two years.

When Bush signed the war supplemental spending bill which, as Think Progress reminds us, "included a doubling of GI Bill college benefits for troops and veterans," he said, with utmost hypocrisy and insincerity:

"The bill is a result of close collaboration between my administration and members of both parties on Capitol Hill. ... I want to thank members who worked hard for the GI Bill expansion, especially Senators Webb and Warner, Graham, Burr, McCain. This bill shows that even in an election year, Democrats and Republicans can come together to stand behind our troops."

What was McCain's position on this GI Bill? And how exactly did McCain work hard to see it a reality? "McCain ... was one of the most vocal opponents of Webb's bill. He claimed it was too generous, would lead to a drop in military retention, and would 'hurt the military.' ...

"In fact, McCain didn't even show up ... to vote on the GI bill legislation, which passed 92-6. The only other senator not present for the vote was Ted Kennedy (D-MA), who is battling a brain tumor."


The following is also from Think Progress.

Back on November 11, 2004, (on C-Span Road to the White House), John McCain said: "Without privatization, I don't see how you can possibly over time, make sure that young Americans are able to receive Social Security benefits."

McCain is also quoted in the Wall Street Journal of March 3, 2008 thusly: "As part of Social Security reform, I believe that private savings accounts are a part of it -- along the lines that President Bush proposed."

Carly Fiorina, of Hewlett Packard fame, and now a top economic adviser for John McCain, recently told right wing radio host Bill Bennett, that McCain "supports private accounts as one of the ways to reform the system" and furthermore, "he will continue to be supportive of those."

Oh, oh. Something's wrong. McCain forgot hisself agin! At a town hall meeting in New Hampshire last month, McCain got into a verbal todo with a voter about Social Security privatization. McCain said "I'm not for, quote, privatizing Social Security. I never have been. I never will be."



Buzzflash (in an article by AmyW) has more stuff on McCain's recent gaffes, including another one related to Social Security. While campaigning in Denver, McCain called Social Security an "absolute disgrace," and explained that it shouldn't be paid for by young worker's taxes.

Reed Hundt, a former Federal Communications Commission Chairman and supporter of Barack Obama wondered "...why reporters don't ask: If Senator McCain doesn't want payroll taxes to fund Social Security (as has long been the case), then how does he propose to pay for it?"

And in a DNC conference call involving several Social Security experts, Gerald McEntee, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, said: "After being in the United States Congress for close to 30 years, John McCain doesn't understand how the Social Security system works. It's always been 'pay as you go' with today's workers paying for today's retirees. What's a disgrace is, that this is news to John McCain."


Last Monday, McCain told a Vietnam vet who had the audacity to question his voting record on issues of importance to veterans, that he has "a perfect voting record from organizations like Veterans of Foreign Wars and American Legion, and all the other veterans' service organizations."

He went on to say "I've been endorsed in every election by all of the veterans' organizations that do that. I've been supported by them and received the highest awards from all those organizations, so I guess they don't know something you know."

Not quite. According to Buzzflash, "The Disabled Veterans of America gave McCain a 20 out of 100 for the period from Jan 2006-Jan 2007. The Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans Association gave him a 'D.' The Vietnam Veterans of America show that since 2001 McCain has voted with' them 9 times, against them 15 times, and has missed 8 votes on legislation they consider important."


And we must not forget McCain's views on the economy. Former senator Phil Gramm, the person many people blame for the banking troubles currently underway in this country, is McCain's top economic adviser. Gramm, never a friend to the "little" people, went a little nuts and told the Washington Times that the US is "a nation of whiners" because the people are complaining about their economic problems and the recession isn't real, but merely a "mental recession."

McCain's campaign immediately determined that Gramm's comments weren't likely to bring in many votes, so put out a statement saying that John McCain's views are not in sync with Phil Gramm's views.

If that's true, why in god's name would McCain hire Gramm as his top economic adviser? But, you know and I know, McCain and Gramm are rooting around in the same sty, no matter how many statements the McCain campaign puts out.


Poor John. He just can't seem to remember much. Last Wednesday he was asked why insurance companies cover treatment for erectile dysfunction (e.g. Viagra), but not birth control (e.g. contraceptives).

McCain responded, "I certainly do not want to discuss that issue."

Why not?

McCain then admitted he didn't remember how he voted on the issue of insurance companies providing contraceptives. He said he would check to see what his position was.


Finally, McCain was asked why he missed the big vote in the Senate on Wednesday. The Repugnicans attempted a filibuster of a Medicare bill which would prevent cutting physician reimbursements. McCain was nowhere to be found.

Ted Kennedy stumbled in to provide the necessary vote to collapse the filibuster and the bill passed. McCain said he would have voted with the Republicans to keep the filibuster going. But he didn't mind missing the vote because the President would veto the bill anyway. Then he said he "regrets" missing vote.

Note that McCain was the only senator not present when the medicare vote took place. He was also absent Thursday. He has "no scheduled campaign appearance until July 15."


How does one explain McCain?