McCain And His Nasty Advisers (The Real McCain)

Another day, another change in "belief" for the principled one.

Back in 2000, he was rightly appalled when then Governor Bush's hatchet men skewered him in South Carolina, launching all sorts of false attacks against McCain and his family.

Now, however, these very bottom-dwellers are on his payroll. The first paragraph of the New York Times article covering McCain's change of heart spells it out:

Senator John McCain, intent on succeeding where his freewheeling presidential campaign of 2000 failed, is assembling a team of political bruisers for 2008. And it includes advisers who once sought to skewer him and whose work he has criticized as stepping over the line in the past.

But read the whole thing, it's good.

Comments

barrelhse said:

Off topic, but I saw today that Snowe and Collins are heading up the McCain effort in Maine.
I still maintain that McCain doesn't look well enough to survive a campaign. Hope he doesn't disappoint!

February 3, 2007 10:31 PM

r€nato said:

hey cliff- bad link

take the 'mailto:' out of the anchor tag; every time you click on your NYTimes link, it tries to send an email.

here is the URL for the rest of you

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/04/us/politics/04mccain.html

February 4, 2007 2:50 AM

Cliff Schecter said:

Thanks renato. The link should be fixed.

February 4, 2007 7:43 AM

Betty Boop said:

Hey here's a goody from Think Progress - McCain FLIP FLOPS in 47 seconds...think that is some kind of a record for him???

McCain Flip-Flops In 47 Seconds: Claims Success Is Not Realistic In ‘A Few Months,’ Then Says It Is
On ABC’s This Week, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) said it is unrealistic to expect the escalation strategy to change the situation in Iraq in “a few months”:

MCCAIN: Took us a long time to get in the situation we’re in, and to say that — and somehow assume that in a few months, that things are going to get all better I think is not realistic.

Just 47 seconds later, McCain said we’ll know whether the escalation strategy is working “in a few months”:

STEPHANOPOULOS: You say it’s all in. How long are you going to give it to work?

MCCAIN: I think in the case of the Iraqi government cooperating and doing what’s necessary, we can know fairly well in a few months.

February 4, 2007 1:24 PM

Rob said:

Mccain 08

February 4, 2007 8:05 PM

Basheert (formerly Betty Boop) said:

Well I feel so much better - I wasn't comfortable with Betty boop so went to my regular name Basheert - hope no one minds.
McCain is really hoping people have forgotten all those little bumps in his past but here in Arizona, the Keating 5 is still a raw subject.
Hopefully he will lose both his bid for re-election AND his run for the nomination. He is definitely not worthy to be in either office.
He has accomplished nothing.

February 4, 2007 9:53 PM

pendragon said:

How sad. He wants to be President so badly. Not a shred of dignity left. Lay down with the political slime who did you in the first time around. Nice job of slandering my family guys! You're hired! By the way, can you help me with this flippin' floppin' problem I'm having? I'm not making a whole lot of sense and we're runnng out of time!

February 5, 2007 7:59 AM

Basheert said:

Today's beauty from the local rag:

McCain thinks the ONLY people who don't agree with him are inside the Beltway. That out here in the RW (real world) everyone supports his position that if you don't support the surge, you are not supporting the troops.
Do the Repigs have a market on inane drivel?

Must send him another constituent email.....

February 5, 2007 11:07 AM

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About Cliff Schecter

Cliff Schecter is a veteran campaign strategist and political commentator. Schecter is a regular contributor to the Huffington Post and was a guest columnist for United Press International from 2002-2004. His work has been featured in a variety of publications including The Miami Herald, The American Prospect, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Fordham Urban Law Journal, The Washington Monthly and Salon.com. He blogs at cliffschecter.com and writes a weekly satirical column each Friday called "Cliff's Corner," summarizing the week's most ridiculous events, for AMERICAblog. Surprisingly, Tom DeLay gets mentioned a lot.

During the 2004 election cycle, Schecter worked as the "liberal" pundit for The Sinclair Broadcast Group, where he debated conservative Armstrong Williams -- for significantly less cost to the White House. He has also appeared on CNN, CNBC, NPR FoxNews and the Canadian Broadcast Channel. Recently, Schecter has been a regular contributor to MSNBC, where his debates against Republicans have become some of the most popular videos on YouTube, garnering as many as 125,000 viewings. Additionally, Schecter has provided analysis on American politics for international diplomats, journalists, students and politicians as part of The State Department Bureau of International Information Programs.

Schecter, a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, holds an MA in International Affairs from the Columbia School of International and Public Affairs and is receiving his Ph.D. in American History as a Dean's Honors Fellow at American University.

Schecter was a pollster for the successful reelection of President Bill Clinton in 1996 and fundraiser for former Governor of Virginia Mark Warner in 2001. He has also provided initial opposition research for the Ned Lamont campaign's unprecedented victory over sitting senator Joe Lieberman in the 2006 primary race in Connecticut, and has consulted for the DNC, DCCC and candidates he won't mention here because they lost.

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