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July 10, 2008
Asskisser
John McCain is a pandering McPanderer
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) ― In his first sit-down interview with KDKA Political Editor Jon Delano, U.S. Sen. John McCain recounted how he would recite the Pittsburgh Steelers defensive line-up to his North Vietnamese captors.
McCain, the Republican candidate for president, says he naturally thinks of the football team whenever he thinks of Pittsburgh.
"The Steelers really made a huge impression on me -- particularly in their early years."
In fact, McCain explains how the team helped him during his time in a POW camp.
"When I was first interrogated and really had to give some information because of the physical pressures that were on me, I named the starting lineup -- defensive line -- of the Pittsburgh Steelers as my
squadron-mates!"
An oft-repeated story from McCain's autobiography, "Faith of My Fathers," (pp. 193-194) and multiple other news sources:
"Further coerced to give future targets, he named cities that had already been bombed, and responding to demands for the names of his squadron's members, he supplied instead the names of the Green Bay Packers' offensive line."
Dish supposes it's plausible that Sen. McCain pretended to rat out his squadron-mates by invoking the Steelers defensive front and deceived the North Vietnamese by calling out the Packers' O-line, but not very.
Quit pandering, panderer. Sen. McPanderpants. El Fibulator. He could be lying, or forgetful, but Dish is charitable and will just assume McCain thinks Pittsburghers are absolute idiots and will vote for anyone who mentions the Steelers.
(Mr. Dish met him once while working for a newspaper in Connecticut and covering a U.S. Rep. Christopher Shays campaign rally. Mr. Dish punched Sen. McCain in the shoulder in order to get McCain's attention for a brief interview. Sen. McCain is the oldest and most highly visible man Mr. Dish has ever punched.)
Tip sent in by Michael Vivar
July 10, 2008 in Politics | Permalink
Comments
There are a lot of vets and a lot of Steelers fans around these parts, obviously. It makes sense to capitalize on that.
Too bad he was a war criminal taking part in an illegal war rather than, say, our WWII POW's.
If only Jane Fonda had shot him down when she was sitting in that AA turret.
Posted by: Heartless | Aug 1, 2008 1:44:07 PM
To start, sorry for being a bit abrasive in my first response to you, Swartz. As you can see from the time stamp, it was late and lack of sleep gets me punchy. It's nothing against you personally, but I've heard the arguments you're positing before and they make me a bit salty. When he first came on the scene as a presidential candidate, people accused Obama of being an empty suit with style and no substance. When that didn't stick, the talking point du jour became "OMG PANDERER!!!" I'm not some blind follower of any politician. If Obama, for political expediency, suddenly changes tack, I'll be the first to call him on it. I've yet to see it, though.
I'm King Cynic when it comes to life and especially politics, but, as someone who tries to keep up with the issues as much as possible, the optimism I'm having for an Obama presidency is nice to have for once in a lifetime.
Posted by: Michael Vivar | Jul 12, 2008 1:42:10 PM
Also, Sorry for all the misspellings. I am a product of the computer generation.... I am lost with out spell check.
Posted by: Swartz | Jul 12, 2008 12:51:11 PM
Look, the guy's a politician, probably the best one we have seen since Wild Bill (Clinton).
He is going to say and do what ever him and his advisers think will get him elected... period. He is no different than the those that came before him.
To think otherwise, in my opinion, is naive and ill-informed.
Posted by: J Swartz | Jul 12, 2008 12:47:54 PM
First of all, he's always advocated the use of faith-based infrastructure to dispense aid. I mean, his career started with community organizing through the churches. The reason people came down on Bush was because of the lack of restrictions on proselytizing and idiotic "abstinence only" education, which Obama has stated he's against.
Second, he's always stated that "We should be as careful withdrawing our troops as we were reckless going in" (paraphrasing). He's presented a plan for this through a gradual withdrawal and has stuck by it. If a change is needed based on new information, why would this be a bad thing? The era of "stay the course" needs to end.
On FISA, he voted several times to remove the telecom immunity part of the bill. He ended up voting yea on the final bill, but that's because the rest of the bill increases oversight of the FISA court so that the nonsense Bush pulled can't be pulled again (theoretically. People are always going to game the system). That's called compromise and "working against the politics of divisiveness," which has been a cornerstone of his campaign.
The death penalty thing I disagree with, but I can see how he'd have this view since he has two young daughters. Also, I'm not a single issue voter.
So where some might see "pandering" and "flip-flopping" (christ, I hate that buzzword), others might say that the people tossing around those words are ill-informed.
Posted by: Michael Vivar | Jul 12, 2008 12:30:27 PM
Pandering is when you tell the far left in a primary on thing and then change that message for the general election. Ex.- that you are against warantless wiretapping, Bush's faith based initiatives, etc. and then change your stance once you secure the nomination. Or objected to the Supreme Court's decision outlawing the death penalty for child rapists, even though he was anti-capital punishment, or "refining" your promise to quickly remove U.S. troops from the war, etc. etc. etc.
Some call this flip flopping. I call it politics as usual. Who ever pulls it of (pulls the whole over the sheep's eyes) or panders the best...wins.
Posted by: J Swartz | Jul 12, 2008 11:01:46 AM
Swartz. Don't hold back. Astound me with your staggering insight and be specific about Obama's pandering.
Posted by: Michael Vivar | Jul 12, 2008 5:09:11 AM
Obama is better at pandering, so he'll be the one elected.
The people of this great country have turned into sheep. "Bahhhh - four legs good, two legs baaaaddd".
Posted by: Swartz | Jul 11, 2008 2:16:40 PM
So I'd heard this story before. He'd told it a few years ago (justifying his stance against torture). Not being a football fan, the Green Bay angle didn't come to mind. However, being an adopted Pittsburgher, I knew that referencing the Steelers would have stood out. So I did a search on John McCain. To coin a phrase, "The truth always outs." Not only did McCain's book contradict him, but he's told the story since:
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/15/politics/15mccain.html
And, if anyone's wondering if McCain, under threat of torture, just dropped a "Bradshaw" here or there, here's the Steelers defensive line in 1967:
Ben McGee
Ken Kortas
Chuck Hinton
Lloyd Voss
What a clutch of household names!
Bottom line, McCain sucks at pandering and teh Internets.
Posted by: Michael Vivar | Jul 10, 2008 7:05:49 PM
Now that is ridiculous. McCain was a POW from 1967 until 1973. Prior to 1970's were there any famous or even notable defensive lineman who played for the Steelers?
Posted by: schultz | Jul 10, 2008 5:22:35 PM
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