Playing the McVictim for the McMedia (Did I already mention that the GOP can't run on their record so the shitslide has begun?)

Mr. McCain's 12 years of running for President has given him quite a bit of practice on how to garner the sympathy of American voters, and play to the media, with stories of his capture over North Vietnam and with regard to his war record. The media, btw, won't be able to ride on grandpa McCain's RV and jump on the couch after milk and cookies any more, he has just bought a nice shiny new airplane for his campaign trips around the country. Yeah, it's called the "Straight Talk Express" too. Wonder if this means CNN will have to get an airplane and christen it the "Campaign Express" (like it's primary coverage RV) for the fall?

Sunday, June 29, 2008
Honestly, besides being tortured, what did McCain do to excel in the military?
John Aravosis (DC) · 6/29/2008 10:23:00 PM ET
It's not "nice" to ask the question, but it's actually a pretty good question. Yes, we all know that John McCain was captured and tortured in Vietnam (McCain won't let you forget). A lot of people don't know, however, that McCain made a propaganda video for the enemy while he was in captivity. Putting that bit of disloyalty aside, what exactly is McCain's military experience that prepares him for being commander in chief? It's not like McCain rose to the level of general or something. He's a vet. We get it. But simply being a vet, as laudable as it is, doesn't really tell you much about someone's qualifications for being commander in chief. If McCain is going to play the "I was tortured" card every five minutes as a justification for electing him president, then he shouldn't throw a hissy fit any time any one asks to know more about his military experience. Getting shot down, tortured, and then doing propaganda for the enemy is not command experience. Again, it's not nice to say say, but we're not running for class president here. We deserve real answers, not emotional outbursts designed to quell the questions.

by Dave Johnson

John McCain 2000: The Swiftboaters' First Mission

Posted September 30, 2006 | 08:16 PM (EST)

Imagine that it's 1997, and you're a strategist trying to figure out how to get George W. Bush, of all people, into the White House. Your candidate's record is, to put it mildly, not so great: he had been elected Governor of Texas in 1994 and before that ... well ... never mind. His term as government is marked by cronyism and corruption, and if elected to the nation's highest office it promises to be more of the same.

If you're going to win this you will need to mask your candidate's record and agenda. You need a strategy that turns your opponent's advantages into disadvantages, and, most important, that distracts everyone from your own candidate's awful record. And to accomplish this you need a team that is willing and cynical enough to do what it is going to take to sell your guy. Bush's top strategist Karl Rove learned his licks alongside Lee Atwater. Rove and Atwater went back a long ways,

Back in 1972, the 22-year-old Rove was a candidate for chairman of the College Republicans. The rambunctious Atwater was his Southern regional coordinator.

What kind of campaign schooling did Rove receive? In 1981 Atwater, then a Reagan strategist, said in an interview,

You start out in 1954 by saying, 'Nigger, nigger, nigger.' By 1968 you can't say 'nigger' - that hurts you. Backfires. So you say stuff like forced busing, states' rights and all that stuff.

In 1988, Atwater ran Bush's father's campaign against Michael Dukakis,

During the election, a number of false rumors were reported in the media about Dukakis, including the claim by Idaho Republican Senator Steve Symms that Dukakis's wife Kitty had burned an American flag to protest the Vietnam War, as well as the claim that Dukakis himself had been treated for a mental illness.

Rove's own background follows a similarly questionable ethical path,

Rove's first foray into politics involved gaining entry to the office of Alan Dixon--a candidate for state treasurer in Illinois in 1970--stealing some campaign stationery and printing and distributing a fake invitation to Dixon's campaign headquarters, promising "free beer, free food, girls, and a good time."

Later, working for Nixon's "dirty tricks" team,

...Rove infiltrated Democratic organizations on behalf of Nixon's infamous 1972 campaign. Rove's formidable talents came to the attention of George Bush Senior, then incoming Republican National Committee chairman, and the rest is history.

Finally, in Texas,

In 1986, Rove, by then in Texas, announced that his office had been bugged by Democrats during a gubernatorial race. The accusation, which spurred an FBI investigation, never panned out, leading some critics to charge that Rove had bugged his own phone.

So you've got your Rove on. Next, you line up your operatives - people like Tom Synhorst and Ralph Reed. If you've got a stinker to sell, it's a good idea turn to the very best at selling real stinkers. Tobacco marketers were so good that they could convince people to kill themselves with your product and hand over their money to you in the process!

Before moving into political consulting, Tom Synhorst had been employed by the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company coordinating RJR's "grassroots" efforts. Later he had worked on George W Bush's 1994 campaign for Governor of Texas. Mother Jones, in 1996's groundbreaking story Tobacco Dole,

Synhorst ... illustrate[s] an important aspect of the tobacco industry's survival plan: Create grassroots front groups to make pro-tobacco legislation handed down by state and national politicians appear to be the public's will. These groups, many posing as "anti-tax" organizations, are key to the tobacco industry's efforts to win over the anti-big government segment of the electorate.

Known as the "Johnny Appleseed of Astroturf," Synhorst founded the firm Direct Connect, Inc., or DCI in 1988. DCI continued to work for tobacco companies as well as political campaigns and the NRA, specializing in "strategic message development and delivery," and using Astroturf methods to make it appear to members of Congress that there was popular support for their positions.

Ralph Reed, former head of the Christian Coalition (and now implicated as part of the Abramoff lobbying/corruption ring) is a help, because at some point you want to get your candidate in front of the leaders and followers of the theocratic Right - and especially get their machine behind you. Reed was probably helpful in facilitating a relationship between Bush and the Council for National Policy. (See here, here, here, here and here.)

And if you want to mask Reed's involvement, just "park" him at Enron and Microsoft. (see also) According to CNN,

The White House acknowledged Friday that in 1997, as George W. Bush was deciding whether to run for president, his senior political adviser Karl Rove recommended GOP strategist Ralph Reed for a consulting job with Enron Corp. Reed, former head of the Christian Coalition, went to work for Enron as a strategist, making from $10,000 to $20,000 a month, according to The New York Times.

After you've got your operative ducks in a row there's those pesky primaries to get through (ask Joe Lieberman about that). In the primaries you face John McCain, an experienced Senator, a man perceived as a military hero who had spent five years as a POW, and as an honest "straight talker." If you are a strategist for George W. Bush, of all people, how do you go up against that?

And then following the primaries you still have the general election where you'll be up against Al Gore, the most involved Vice President in history, coming from four years of peace and prosperity, a former seminary student, Vietnam veteran, with one of the strongest records of any Senator.

But one of the advantages you have for the coming campaign is... almost all the money in the world.

Turning McCain's record into a liability - how they did it.

If you're really, really cynical, why not turn a record of honorable record of military service and dedication to America into a liability!

From Patriot Project's The Swiftboaters Are Back in the Water,

... Bush surrogates (several later involved in the Kerry swiftboating effort) skillfully turned McCain's service record against him (thereby deflecting questions about Bush's own service record.) They planted stories that the torture McCain suffered as a POW had brought about mental instability, including rumors that he had been programmed as a "Manchurian candidate" who "collaborated with the enemy." No longer could McCain use the fact that he had endured torture as evidence of dedication to serving his country.

And as explained in Patriot Project's Did Paul Galanti Sell His Medals,

In the 2000 South Carolina Presidential primary Bush surrogates circulated stories that McCain's five years as a POW had made him "mentally unstable," gave him a "loose screw," that he "committed treason while a POW" and "came home and forgot us." The stories also called McCain "the fag candidate," called his wife a drug addict, said McCain "chose to sire children without marriage" and had "a black child" (the actual wording of that last smear from the flyers and e-mails that circulated is not printable here).

And when McCain responded by asking whether this kind of smear campaign showed that voters should think twice about trusting Bush, saying Bush was "twisting the truth like Clinton," Rove was able to turn that against McCain¸ by accusing McCain of "going negative." Unlike Rove and Bush, McCain hadn't understood the value of attacking with surrogates.

This information was passed using flyers, e-mails, word-of-mouth and "push polls." As McCain's campaign manager, Richard H. Davis, later wrote in his article about what happened, The anatomy of a smear campaign that,

Anonymous opponents used "push polling" to suggest that McCain's Bangladeshi born daughter was his own, illegitimate black child. In push polling, a voter gets a call, ostensibly from a polling company, asking which candidate the voter supports. In this case, if the "pollster" determined that the person was a McCain supporter, he made statements designed to create doubt about the senator.

But other Bush surrogates threw smoke into the air, accusing the media of making up the whole story

Thursday night ABC, CBS and NBC all featured full stories about John McCain's indignation over "push polling" by the Bush campaign -- based solely on the second-hand recitation by a mother about a phone call her 14-year-old son supposedly received tagging McCain a "fraud" and a "liar."

While all the stories included denials from the Bush campaign that they made any such calls, by making the allegation the basis of their campaign story of the night, only ABC ran a second story on another subject (see item #2 below), the networks served the agenda of the McCain campaign.

etc...

Synhorst's firm specialized in push-polling. According to a Feb. 11, 2000 Washington Post story,

[Bush campaign spokesman Ari] Fleischer said the advocacy calls were being made by the firm of Feathers, Hodges, Larson and Synhorst, a Phoenix-based company that has worked extensively for the Bush campaign to identify and turn out voters in key states.

Reed also had his own background in nasty, smearing push polling. According to Josh Marshall,

Back in 1996 Reed was the one who helped save Bob Dole in Iowa by orchestrating a campaign of so-called "push-polls" attacking rival candidate Steve Forbes for, among other things, tolerating his father's "alternative lifestyle."

And, also according to Marshall,

Reed's frequent partner in "astroturf" work is Tom Synhorst. Let's run through some of his exploits in the "astroturf" biz. Synhorst's main shop is Direct Connect Inc., DCI. DCI did the "astroturf" work for the 'Health Benefits Coalition,' trying to kill the Health Care Bill of Rights back in 1998 (Nat. Journal July 11, '98); DCI also spearheaded various efforts by the tobacco industry and the NRA; it also helped set up Americans for Competitive Technology and Americans for Technology Leadership, two Microsoft front groups agitating against the Justice Department's antitrust suit.

(Remember that Reed working for Microsoft at the same time as he was employed as a Bush campaign strategist.)

And finally, let's bring in the Wyly Brothers. The Wyly Brothers ran their own smear-McCain operation. According to the Dallas Morning News,

During Mr. Bush's 2000 primary fight with John McCain, the [Wyly] brothers backed a $2.5 million television ad campaign praising Mr. Bush's environmental record in Texas and attacking Mr. McCain's Senate votes. Until that point, it was Mr. Bush whose record had come under fire from environmental groups.
The ad's sponsor was identified only as "Republicans for Clean Air," a new group at the time...

So what is up with McCain today, turning around and joining up with the very foes who smeared him in 2000?

From the Dallas News story,

Earlier this year, the Wylys' relationship with Mr. McCain took a surprising turn. They each sent $10,000 checks to his political action committee and were set to co-sponsor a Dallas fundraiser on his behalf.

And from ABC's April 23, 06 story, Gearing Up for '08? McCain Befriends Old Enemies,

Also co-chairing the [McCain] event are Rob Allyn, a Texas PR man who was paid $46,000 to produce the Wylys' "Republicans for Clean Air" ads, and businessmen Albert Huddleston and Harold Simmons, who gave $100,000 and $3 million respectively to the controversial independent group, "Swift Vets & POWs for Truth." McCain called "dishonest and dishonorable" the "Swift Vets" group's 2004 campaign ads that helped sink the presidential chances of Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass.

... Also co-chairing the event are Rob Allyn, a Texas PR man who was paid $46,000 to produce the Wylys' "Republicans for Clean Air" ads, and businessmen Albert Huddleston and Harold Simmons, who gave $100,000 and $3 million respectively to the controversial independent group, "Swift Vets & POWs for Truth." McCain called "dishonest and dishonorable" the "Swift Vets" group's 2004 campaign ads that helped sink the presidential chances of Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass.

... McCain has been criticized by many liberals and pundits in recent weeks for agreeing to speak on May 13 at Liberty University, the school founded by Christian conservative Rev. Jerry Falwell, who McCain in 2000 labeled "an agent of intolerance." McCain told NBC's Tim Russert earlier this month that he no longer held that opinion.
"The, quote, 'Christian Right' has a major role to play in the Republican Party," McCain said. "One reason is because they're so active, and their followers are."

Interestingly the Wyly Brothers may have gotten the money to smear McCain from Texas taxpayers, with Bush's help. But that's a story for later...

John Dean, in the preface to his book Conservatives Without Conscience, writes,

How do people - particularly those who have never put their life on the line fot their country - engage in, or condone, attacks on Senator John McCain's life-defining experiences as a Vietnam POW or question Senator Ma Cleland's courage in building a new life after his loss of three limbs in Vietnam? What causes them to dispute Senator John Kerry's valor during voluntary combat duty in Vietnam or to contest Representative Jack Murtha's war record in Vietnam? ... These questions have clear answers. ... In fact, these people cannot be trusted to exercise the powers of government responsibly.

February 16, 2000

THE 2000 CAMPAIGN: THE OVERVIEW; In Hot Debate, Bush and McCain Collide Over Campaign's Tactics

By DAVID FIRESTONE AND ALISON MITCHELL

In a barely controlled debate that revealed the depth of their mutual anger, Gov. George W. Bush and Senator John McCain lashed into each other's negative campaign tactics tonight, with Mr. McCain lecturing Mr. Bush that he ''should be ashamed'' that a surrogate had accused Mr. McCain of abandoning veterans.

Mr. Bush refused Mr. McCain's demand that he apologize, instead insisting that Mr. McCain stop impugning his integrity. In seething, indignant accusations, each man tried to portray himself as the victim of gutter politics, with Mr. McCain saying he had been called everything but a fascist.

''You're putting out stuff that is unbelievable, George, and it's got to stop,'' he said. ''And your ads have got to stop.''

The debate, the last before Saturday's crucial South Carolina primary, was by far the most freewheeling and intense of the Republican contest and reflected the sense of both camps that it could help determine the outcome of the vote. The arguments ranged across nearly every issue that has come up in the race, along with a few new ones.

With only Alan Keyes sitting between them, the two leading candidates argued forcefully over abortion, policy toward Russia, taxes, Social Security, and the don't-ask-don't-tell policy on gays in the military. On a day in which Mr. Bush issued a reformulated proposal to change the campaign finance proposal, the two disagreed sharply on which kinds of donations should be banned.

The field for the first time was reduced to just three candidates, allowing a series of far more direct confrontations than any previous debates. Mr. Keyes's often-hectoring interjections heightened the incendiary tone of the evening, particularly regarding Mr. Bush's campaign event at Bob Jones University, a center of Christian conservatism that does not allow interracial dating. While Mr. Bush looked skyward, Mr. Keyes unleashed a scathing attack on him for speaking there and not condemning its dating policy.

''Does leadership consist of going into Bob Jones University where serious questions, in fact, do exist about religious bigotry and racial bigotry?'' Mr. Keyes asked. ''Going in, taking the applause, risking nothing because you refuse to raise the issues? That's what G. W. Bush did.''

Mr. Bush retorted that he did not support the university's policy.

But the most personal exchanges came early in the 90-minute debate at a catering hall here, when the moderator, Larry King, asked about the conduct of the campaign. Governor Bush immediately accused Senator McCain of being first to break a promise not to run negative advertising.

''We shook hands, and unfortunately he ran an ad that equated me to Bill Clinton,'' Mr. Bush said, sounding exasperated. ''You can disagree on issues. We'll debate issues. But whatever you do, don't equate my integrity and trustworthiness to Bill Clinton.''

Mr. McCain, steely but furious, immediately responded by citing an event early this month in Sumter, S.C., in which J. Thomas Burch Jr., chairman of the National Vietnam and Gulf War Veterans Committee, complained that Mr. McCain had opposed measures dealing with Agent Orange and gulf war syndrome.

''I don't know if you can understand this, George, but that really hurts,'' Mr. McCain said. ''You should be ashamed. You should be ashamed.''

Mr. Keyes, who had been expected to spend the evening criticizing Mr. McCain, instead worked to appear above the fray and condemned both of his opponents, saying there were more important issues to discuss than campaign tactics. Mr. King also tried to change the subject, but Mr. McCain pressed on, demanding to tell the story of the negative telephone calls being made to South Carolina voters by the Bush campaign. Mr. Bush then pulled out a McCain campaign flier criticizing his tax cut plan, accusing Mr. McCain of continuing his attacks despite a new vow to stop.

''That is not by my campaign,'' Mr. McCain said.

''Well, it says paid for by John McCain,'' Mr. Bush said.

''That is not by my campaign,'' Mr. McCain said.

''McCain 2000,'' Mr. Bush said. ''John, well then somebody's putting stuff out.''

Mr. McCain explained after the debate that the flier was printed a few weeks ago, before his no-negative-ad pledge, and was apparently distributed by a campaign worker without his knowledge.

A significant portion of the evening involved foreign policy questions, a departure from previous debates. The candidates were asked what aspects of the nation's foreign policy they would change. Both Mr. Bush and Mr. Keyes criticized the American policy toward China.

Mr. McCain urged a particularly aggressive approach toward what he called rogue states.

''I'd institute a policy that I call rogue state rollback,'' he said. ''I would arm, train, equip, both from without and from within, forces that would eventually overthrow the governments and install free and democratically elected governments.''

Mr. Bush and Mr. McCain also tangled over when it was appropriate for the United States to intervene in foreign conflicts. Mr. Bush said he would authorize the use of armed forces when it is the ''nation's strategic interests.''

Mr. McCain told Mr. Bush his analysis ''wasn't that simple,'' saying there were times when a violation of moral principles justified the commitment of troops.

''We can never say that a nation driven by Judeo-Christian principles will only intervene where our interests are threatened, because we also have values,'' he said.

All three tried to make the most forceful case for their candidacy. Mr. Bush stressed his executive experience as governor of Texas, saying of his two opponents, ''These are good men. Don't get me wrong. But I've been there.'' Mr, McCain said he was the one to reconstitute the old Reagan coalition. Mr. Keyes scoffed at both men as not forceful enough, saying ''I question their ability to articulate on the moral issues of our time.''

Questioned by Mr. King, Mr. Bush said he would not describe Mr. McCain as a liberal and even characterized his opponent as conservative and as ''a fine man.'' He said he was simply more conservative than Mr. McCain on certain issues.

Mr. Bush and Mr. McCain also sparred on their competing tax cut plans. Mr. Bush has proposed a $483 billion, five-year tax cut. Mr. McCain has called for nearly $240 billion in tax cuts over the same period, with much of the federal surplus going to shore up Social Security.

Mr. McCain, raising questions about Mr. Bush's maturity, defended his emphasis on Social Security, saying ''It's not the Washington mentality. It's the grown-up mentality. It's the grown-up mentality that recognizes that we have obligations.''

Mr. Bush responded bitterly that it was a Republican philosophy that favored giving tax money back to the people.

''I don't trust Congress,'' he said. ''I trust people. And I want to give people their money back. This is a realistic plan that I'm going to get done. And John, you know, grown-up or non grown-up -- I know that's kind of a line you're trying to come across with, but it's weak -- either you trust the people or you trust government. And our Republican Party ought to stand for trusting the people to spend their own money.''

The two also clashed on the overhaul of the campaign finance law, on a day when Mr. Bush put forward his own plan. Without explicitly mentioning Mr. McCain's effort to ban unlimited, unregulated donations to political parties, Mr. Bush said the logical extension of such plans would allow the press to decide political victors.

Mr. King asked, ''If I gave you a million dollars, don't you have to take my phone call?''

Mr. Bush replied, ''Not necessarily.''

Mr. McCain jumped in, sardonically. ''Sure,'' he said. ''Ask any ex-senator, Larry, ask any ex-senator, they'll tell you.''

Mr. Bush and Mr, McCain also bickered over abortion, with Mr. McCain demanding to know why Mr. Bush did not want to include in the Republican platform's call for a constitutional ban on aboriton an exception in the case of rape, incest or the life of the mother.

Mr. Bush said the platform ''doesn't talk about what specifically should be in the constitutional amendment.''

Mr. McCain shot back, ''It doesn't have the exemptions in it and you know that very well.''

The 10 Dirtiest Political Races in U.S. History

Ads, slogans, and campaign themes that stand out for sheer venom

David Mark | November 2006

...2002 Meanwhile, in Georgia's Senate race, politicians learned the power of suggesting your opponent is indifferent to terrorism. In a widely criticized commercial, GOP challenger Saxby Chambliss denounced Democratic Sen. Max Cleland's vote against one proposed version of the new Department of Homeland Security. The spot opened with Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein glowering over a montage of military images. The ad faded to black, then launched into Chambliss' criticisms of Cleland, a quadriplegic veteran crippled during his tour of duty in Vietnam. The senator's supporters decried the ad for linking him with those international villains, but his opponent contended that the spot focused, fairly, on his votes in office. The people of Georgia agreed, booting Cleland from the Senate....