By Request: McContradictions

Taricha asks "How long will McCain be able to keep up the balancing act of telling fiscal conservatives/economic & tax experts privately that he doesn't support the things he talks about publicly?" My guess is a very long time. The general quality of campaign coverage is very low, the press likes being kind to John McCain, and the press also likes being kind to the candidate who's losing so expect very little scrutiny here.

What's more, the pixie dust that makes this "all things to all people" magic work is the reality that President McCain is going to be facing expanded Democratic majorities in 2009 so people assume that McCain's campaign pledges are quasi-meaningless and that all this stuff would be reopened once he has to sit down with Reid & Pelosi.

Comments

Maybe you're wrong, it looks like the press is latching onto the Phil Gramm "nation of whiners" thing. It was all over CNN yesterday and its at the top of my Google News page this morning.

Posted by too many steves | July 11, 2008 11:57 AM

I think you're using the wrong tense. You should be using the conditional tense when discussing "President McCain".

Posted by phil | July 11, 2008 12:00 PM

They can't freaking ignore it now, steves. Not with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac actually in death throes. That is the only thing that made it sing: irony.

Posted by colleeniem | July 11, 2008 12:00 PM

This one's for SLC, who just loves to tout the thoroughly trashed story about Obama's birth certificate.

It appears that McCain is not eligible to be president. At the time he was born in the Panama Canal Zone, the law did not give him automatic citizenship. The law was actually changed when he was one year old, meaning that he's not a natural born citizen.

Personally I couldn't give a rat's ass, but knowing your penchant for "accuracy" and presidential qualifications, don't you agree that McCain should not be allowed to run for president?

Posted by LFC | July 11, 2008 12:03 PM

Hmmm. That's assuming that Reid & Pelosi would actually say "no" to what a hypothetical President McCain asked of them. There are days when it seems much more realistic to me to imagine those two saying "no" to Obama than to McCain.

Posted by El Cid | July 11, 2008 12:13 PM

Reid and Pelosi could be put in a freak show as the amazing spineless twins.

Posted by LFC | July 11, 2008 12:16 PM

I get why Matt thinks the general public can be misled with help from a compliant national press. What I don't get is how Matt thinks McCain can get away with his double-talk among "fiscal conservatives/economic & tax experts". And pointing out McCain will be wheeling and dealing with a heavily Democratic Congress hardly seems like the sort of thought those folks would find comforting.

Posted by DTM | July 11, 2008 12:17 PM

I would disagree with the idea that the press is kind to losing candidates. I never felt that the press was kinda to Kerry and Gore, who were losing even though it was close.

Posted by Nivardo Lopez | July 11, 2008 12:24 PM

Re LFC

The situations of Senator McCain and Senator Obama are completely different and have no relationship to each other.

1. The issue raised by Prof. Chis goes to the definition of what the term natural born means. There is no controversy over the fact that Senator McCain was born of American parents in the Canal Zone. The controversy is over whether such a person qualifies as a natural born American citizen.

2. The issue raised by the Israelinsider is totally different; it has to do with where Senator Obama was born. It charges that Senator Obama has posted a fake birth certificate on his web site. There is no question that if Senator Obama can produce a valid birth certificate stating that he was born in Hawaii, which was a state by then, he qualifies as a natural born citizen. Period, end of story. The issue is whether such a document exists. The charge is that it does not exist and that, in fact, Senator Obama was born elsewhere.

Posted by SLC | July 11, 2008 12:29 PM

I would add this caveat: "the press also likes being kind to the GOP candidate who's losing.."

Frankly, centrist Obama just isn't that exciting (FISA cave? gimme a break).

But this election is looking more like 1932 than 1978. The more I see of John McCain, the less concerned I am that America will actually vote for another fumbling jackass Republican.

Thus, no Obama donation this month.

Posted by HeavyJ | July 11, 2008 12:29 PM

Today on the Diane Riehm show there was a very astute caller who talked about media framing-- that when Obama changes positions, 'flip flop' gets used but that 'maverick' seems to apply when talking about McCain.

And then Juan Williams flat-out said she was wrong and I wanted to hit someone through the radio.

Posted by Persia | July 11, 2008 12:38 PM

Israelinsider, TelAviv's low budget answer to the New York Post, is questioning Obama's natural born status as am American.

Do we see the irony there, or are we past that?

Posted by HeavyJ | July 11, 2008 12:41 PM

. The issue raised by the Israelinsider is totally different; it has to do with where Senator Obama was born. It charges that Senator Obama has posted a fake birth certificate on his web site. There is no question that if Senator Obama can produce a valid birth certificate stating that he was born in Hawaii, which was a state by then, he qualifies as a natural born citizen. Period, end of story. The issue is whether such a document exists. The charge is that it does not exist and that, in fact, Senator Obama was born elsewhere.

Which is only pertinent however if you take the believe that birth to an American citizen and a foreign national that occurs outside United States territory does not mean automatic citizenship. More specifically, whether a child born to an American mother is given automatic citizenship regardless of place of birth (as there have been cases saying that citizenship is not automatic if the mother is foreign but the father is American, except if paternity is claimed by a certain time).

It is illustrative how so much hope is being pinned on such an obscure thing for an Obama defeat. The right must really be scurred.

Posted by Josh R. | July 11, 2008 12:41 PM

that all this stuff would be reopened once he has to sit down with Reid & Pelosi.

Bwaa ha ha ha.

Posted by asl | July 11, 2008 1:16 PM

McCain's campaign pledges are quasi-meaningless and that all this stuff would be reopened once he has to sit down with Reid & Pelosi.

Given Reid and Pelosi's dealings with President Bush, we already have an objective basis to project how they would deal with a President McCain.

Posted by Duncan Kinder | July 11, 2008 2:59 PM

"issue raised by the Israelinsider"

Israelinsider?

Bwahahahahahahahahahah!!!

The credibility of MEMRI, which is also run by a Mossad front!

You gotta laugh.

Bwhahahahahahahahahahah!!!

Posted by Richard Steven Hack | July 11, 2008 6:37 PM