The latest in embarrassing episodes about to explode on the McCain campaign
is that the person he is criticizing Obama for associating with is someone
McCain funded to the tune of half a million dollars through a group that he
chaired. The Huffington Post broke the story, "McCain Funded Work Of Palestinian
His Campaign Hopes To Tie To Obama" http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/28/mccain-funded-work-of-pal_n_138606.html
explaining:
During the 1990s, while he served as chairman of the International
Republican Institute (IRI), McCain distributed several grants to the
Palestinian research center co-founded by Khalidi, including one worth half a
million dollars.
A 1998 tax filing for the McCain-led group shows a $448,873 grant to
Khalidi's Center for Palestine Research and Studies for work in the West
Bank...
The relationship extends back as far as 1993, when John McCain joined IRI
as chairman in January. Foreign Affairs noted in September of that year that
IRI had helped fund several extensive studies in Palestine run by Khalidi's
group, including over 30 public opinion polls and a study of "sociopolitical
attitudes."
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In its last minute desperation, the McCain campaign is trying to make a big
deal of the fact that at a meeting in 2003, Khalidi lavished praise on Obama.
So, McCain gave Khalidi money, but he is trying to say Obama is a bad guy
because Khalidi said nice things about him. With the discovery that McCain
funded him, either Khalidi is a bad guy and people should be more upset at the
idea that McCain funded him as opposed to Khalidi saying nice things about
Obama, or he isn't a bad guy and this whole episode is a non-issue other than
the McCain campaign raising a red herring. The latter seems more likely.
While this seems obscenely stupid, contradictory and inept of the McCain
campaign, if you have been following them as I have, it is no longer surprising.
Less than a week ago, I reported how the McCain and RNC purchasing of $150,000
in clothes for Sarah Palin violated McCain's own McCain-Feingold campaign
finance reform act, see http://www.opednews.com/articles/McCain-Campaign-Violated-M-by-Steven-Leser-081023-770.html
.
One of the things about this clothing purchase I realized after I wrote this
article is that Palin has only been the Vice Presidential nominee since late
August. Between late August and November 4, there are around 75 days.
McCain and the RNC bought Palin $150,000 worth of clothes to wear
for 75 days and Palin happily accepted them. If that isn't out of
touch and elitist, I don't know what is. Joe Six-packs, take note!
When historians look back at the McCain campaign, I am certain they will
decide that the defining aspect of the McCain Campaign is the lies,
contradictions and missteps concerning everything they do.
Want more proof?
You know the big deal that McCain and Palin are making of the phrase "Spread
the Wealth around?" Not only is what McCain and Palin saying about Obama's
utterance of that phrase misleading to the point of being lying, it turns out
that Palin said just about the same thing only a month ago. As this http://thinkprogress.org/2008/10/27/palin-shares-wealth/
article in Think Progress reports, regarding Alaska's oil revenue wealth, Palin
said:
And Alaska—we’re set up, unlike other states in the union, where it’s
collectively Alaskans own the resources. So we share in the wealth when the
development of these resources occurs. �?It’s to maximize benefits for
Alaskans, not an individual company, not some multinational somewhere, but for
Alaskans.
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So, when Obama says 'spread the wealth�? it's 'Socialism' but when Palin says
it, then it's OK? You betcha!
If you think that is bad, it gets better still. McCain is attacking the Obama
tax plan because Obama concentrates his cuts on the middle class and offers no
cuts for the wealthy. Obama knows that the engine of America's growth is and has
always been the middle class. McCain offers less tax cuts for the middle class
and more for the wealthy and says Obama not doing the same is more 'spreading
the wealth' and 'socialism'. Here's the punch line, while McCain supported most
of Bush's policies and tax cuts, when McCain was discussing the first round of
Bush tax cuts on the senate floor in 2001, McCain said:
I cannot in good conscience support a tax cut in which so many of the
benefits go to the most fortunate among us, at the expense of middle class
Americans who most need tax relief.
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The link for McCain's senate floor speech when he made that statement is here
http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getpage.cgi?dbname=2001_record&page=S5789&position=all
.
You cannot make up stuff like this. A year ago, if you were going to tell me
that one of the Presidential candidates was going to lie and make crazy
contradictory statements like the McCain campaign has done, I would have told
you that you were delusional. It is as if McCain is going out of his way to show
people that he has no ability to manage anything, let alone take on the most
difficult managerial and leadership job in the world. As I said in my above
McCain-Feingold article, he makes Inspector Clousseau, Laurel and Hardy and
Abbott and Costello seem adroit by comparison. Beyond everything else that is
wrong about him and his proposed policies, McCain deserves to lose this race
based on his lies, hypocrisy, inept campaign and crazy erratic behavior
alone.
Authors Bio: Steven Leser specializes in Politics,
Science & Health, and Entertainment topics. He has held positions within the
Democratic Party including District Chair and Public Relations Chair within
county organizations. Steven Leser writes for www.opednews.com, an internet only
media site that has grown to become one of the highest traffic news sites in
America, reaching more traffic, according to alexa.com, than all but the thirty
largest daily newspapers in the US. Mr. Leser is one of the 500+ liberal pundits
who, each month, are published in what has become one of the top five
Liberal/progressive media sites in the US.