Know Your McCain: his electability problem

On a few occasions over the past couple of weeks, I have mentioned an initiative with respect to going on the attack against John McCain. With that, I have created a Google Group called “Know Your McCain” and we are looking to gather information (old and new), create viral videos, write blog posts and use social networking to spread the message about how dangerous John McCain is.

You can look for diaries with the tag “Know Your McCain”, and some diaries will have the “Know Your McCain” in the title as well. If you are interested in joining the Google Group or helping out with Facebook or MySpace, please send me an email (address is in my profile).

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So much seems to always be made about Obama or Clinton or whoever else’s so-called “electability issues” – most of which turns out to be nothing more than a hunk of nonsense strung together from bits of polls, magnifying tiny segments of the population into a much larger group or whatever other themes that the Village wants to conjure up.

All the while, there has been no mention of the tremendous electability issue and problem that faces one John Sidney McCain.

Seriously.

Here is a man who is disliked by his own party. A man who, even though he clinched the republican primary on March 4, had an incredibly low amount of votes in the primaries, both before and (here is the kicker) AFTER he already clinched. For example, he only won one of the twelve caucuses, topped 55% of the primary vote only once (DC) before clinching the nomination and even after clinching the nomination only broke 80% of the vote two times in 10 primary contests.

Hardly a vote of confidence from his own party – a party that is as unpopular as any political party has been in my lifetime. But wait, there is more. Much more.

Here is a man who pissed off an entire hugely motivated section of the republican party – the fundies, only to finally flirt with an extremist pastor (Hagee) and then be forced to denounce him after pressure to do so, therefore alienating this portion of the base further.

Here is a man who has broken his own campaign finance laws - benefiting from them in the primaries when he had no support and no money yet denying that he ever “really” opted into the public financing. Some “straight talk: there.

Here is a man who is supposedly running on “foreign policy experience”, yet has made mistake after mistake after mistake when it comes to basic foreign policy matters.

Here is a man whose supposed “straight talk” has lied out of his ass so many times that even the WaPo, Joe Klein and Andrea Mitchell have called bullshit on his lies.

Here is a man who touts his military experience (which basically consisted of screwing around, losing 5 planes and being a POW close to 40 years ago), yet his voting record when it comes to the troops and veterans is nothing short of abysmal and thinks it isn’t too important when the troops will come home from Iraq. A man whose wife stole painkillers from a veteran’s charity that she headed up.

A man who is not only against a woman’s right to make personal private medical decisions, but would appoint SCOTUS Justices that would eliminate right to privacy, has made jokes about being raped and joked about Chelsea Clinton being ugly because Janet Reno was her father when Chelsea was just 18 years old , and left his first wife when she was disfigured in a horrific accident (after she waited for him for years to return from Vietnam).

And say what you will about his age being off limits, but over 40% of people polled last year would be hesitant to vote for a 72 year old for President. And that was before he bumbled and stumbled his way through a few weeks of campaigning - clearly looking like he is in way over his head.

Here is a man who is running one of the dirtiest and desperate campaigns – and still has the corporate media as his lapdog despite totally blowing off members of the press or asking the ever diplomatic question “what do you want, you little jerks? to other members of the press.

Here is a man whose idea of diplomacy is to sing about bomb bomb bomb bomb bomb Iran, to stay in Iraq for 100 years and to physically assault a foreign official in 1987.

Not only does he threaten to bomb bomb Iran (all while confusing Iran and al Qaeda), but one of his top aides lobbied for an Iran-linked firm, and McCain himself has deep ties to Ahmed Chalabi, who we know was a double agent for Iran (and continues to be linked to Iran), despite having McCain’s full support – either this is dangerously incompetent and naïve of McCain, or it is way more sinister than just being naive.

And finally (for now), here is a man whose running mate short list includes a former primary opponent who, on numerous occasions, was about to bait McCain into hitting him – in what was a very nasty and personal fight.

I think it is long past time where people start to look at the many major overriding issues with McCain and his campaign. Many of these should be fatal. And these should be spread far and wide.

John McCain is unelectable. The American public just doesn’t fully know it yet.