McCain: I’ll Be So Different From Bush that I’ll Continue All His Policies
Here’s some jibberish from John McCain as reported by Martin & Allen:
“I don’t have any need to show that I’m different than President Bush,” McCain said when asked if he’d take any steps after being elected to demonstrate where he’d diverge from his predecessor.
Look, sure, McCain isn’t under any moral obligation to demonstrate difference from President Bush. But if he intends to pursue substantially the same policies as President Bush, then he has no right to react angrily when his political opponents say he’ll pursue substantially the same policies as President Bush. But he does react angrily. But if he’s going to be indignant about the idea that he’ll pursue Bush-like policies, then he should be able to name some policy areas in which he intends to pursue substantially different policies. But I’ve been listening to what McCain says about taxes, about Social Security, about health care, about drilling, about Iraq, etc. and I don’t see many areas in which he intends to follow a dramatically different course. And he can’t name any such areas either.
35 Responses to “McCain: I’ll Be So Different From Bush that I’ll Continue All His Policies”
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August 21st, 2008 at 9:17 am
This just proves what an awesome Maverick that John McCain is — he’ll be different than Bush Jr. even when he’s the same as Bush Jr., because he’s Maverick John McCain.
August 21st, 2008 at 9:19 am
This is a good example of the “hissy fit” phenomenon Atrios points out. McCain acts as though it’s offensive to have asked him a question he doesn’t want to answer. So of course reporters oblige him and he doesn’t get asked.
Whereas Obama and others just sound like whiners.
August 21st, 2008 at 9:21 am
I don’t know about that. McCain’s health care proposal does seem dramatically different from Bush — dramatically worse.
But for the most part I agree.
August 21st, 2008 at 9:22 am
Don’t read too much into such a statement when McCain is still trying to solidy his support among hardcore Republicans and is headed into the Republican National Convention, presumably the largest concentration under one roof of people who still like W. After the convention, you can be sure he’ll try to put all kinds of daylight, real and imagined, between himself and the Bush administration and, even more, between himself and Congress. Question is, will the MSM let him get away with it?
August 21st, 2008 at 9:24 am
Sorry, that’s “solidify.” (I’m insufficiently caffeinated.)
August 21st, 2008 at 9:25 am
Oh, um, I think, wow, I’m gonna go way out on a limb here and say, er, yeah. 100%. Absolutely. More than that — they’ll gleefully celebrate the return of the Awesome Maverick they knew and blushingly always loved, the American humorous supremely accessible and right-even-when-he’s-wrong Maverick President Americans have been America’ing for.
August 21st, 2008 at 9:25 am
Question is, will the MSM let him get away with it?
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!
Hoohoohoohoohooohoohoohoohoohoohoohoohooohoohoohoohoo!
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!
Yes.
August 21st, 2008 at 9:29 am
I will do my morning duty as a patriotic american by pointing out that McCain, the Navy man who spent five years in a Vietnam prison subjected to what the Bush administration calls non-torture, cannot, by virtue of his impeccable credentials and character, cannot be subjected to such small minded nitpicking on the basis of esoteric technical issues of logic.
August 21st, 2008 at 9:30 am
Politico
By JONATHAN MARTIN & MIKE ALLEN | 8/20/08 6:32 PM EST
LAS CRUCES, N.M. — Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) called lobbyists “birds of prey” Wednesday and vowed to enforce a lifetime ban on lobbying for members of his administration.
“I would not allow anyone who worked for my administration to go back to lobbying,” McCain said. “They would have to make that pledge.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
WTF? For starters “anyone who worked for my administration” would have to include thousands of federal workers. Is “lobbyist” defined? Is this legal? Can such a pledge be enforced? Is McCain going to file civil suits against workers violating their pledge? Is he going to vigorously work to pass legislation specific to his administration’s employees, and his only, that does institute a lifetime ban? Will someone just call him on this and force answers to the above questions?
August 21st, 2008 at 9:31 am
That picture should be in every ad.
August 21st, 2008 at 9:38 am
Is it just me or is McCain hugging Bush in a distinctly unmanly manner? Men don’t make cheek contact with other men under any but the most extreme circumstances.
August 21st, 2008 at 9:46 am
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) called lobbyists “birds of prey” Wednesday
I, for one, support his plan to end political lobbying by hiring every single lobbyist in sight to work on his campaign instead.
After all, when you want to run a campaign based on honor, “birds of prey” are exactly the right people to look towards.
It’s a very mavericky, super-straight-talking win/win!
August 21st, 2008 at 9:50 am
This is a double plus good approach for the Republicans, because they can also say that all the damn hippie liberal fringe environmentalists want to protect all these damn birds of prey, which means they love lobbyists, and that’s why the liberals are trying to stop us from saving America by drilling for oil in our national parks.
August 21st, 2008 at 10:23 am
This is just another example of what a straight-talker John McCain is– unfortunately the dirty state of politics today means that he’s forced (against his will) to hire the people he hates. If only he were allowed to soar like the eagle he is.
Additionally, he’s a big fan of the ‘Keep Your Friends Close and Your Enemies Closer’ doctrine. He learned it while a POW for five years in Vietnam, you see.
There, I hit the POW-Straight Talker-Undermined by Political Situation trifecta.
August 21st, 2008 at 10:36 am
YOu don’t understand, Matt–he was a POW! You can’t ask him questions about policy–that’s offensive!
August 21st, 2008 at 10:51 am
That picture should be in every single ad. First, the older McCain appears to be seeking comfort–nuzzling, even–the younger Bush. Second, Bush quite obviously could not care less about McCain–he’s just looking to the crowd. So McCain looks old, soft, and irrelevant, all at once.
August 21st, 2008 at 11:12 am
“I don’t have any need to show that I’m different than President Bush,”
I read this differently. Rather than saying his policies are different from Bush, he’s just saying eff off.
August 21st, 2008 at 12:18 pm
Speaking of continuing policies, Here is a poll that, more or less, predicts a repeat of 2000 (i.e. Obama wins popular vote, McCain wins).
You’d think that after the fiasco of 2000 that there would have been some effort to change this, but I guess “whining rights” are more important.
August 21st, 2008 at 1:00 pm
I think McCain’s tactic is the smart one here…the point is, even after making himself over to become Bush III, he’s still retained the “maverick” title in the public’s mind. If his actually changing all of his “maverick” positions to mirror Bush hasn’t convinced independents that he’s Bush III, he has good reason to think that the Democrats’ saying so isn’t going to do so either; he can only do himself damage by admitting that it’s a legitimate question at all. I think he’s saying he won’t explain his differences because doing so would make it clear that he’s actually a lot less different than people now imagine him to be; the lack of information, as always, is Good For Republicans.
August 21st, 2008 at 4:07 pm
To me it looks like a man being absolved by his messiah.
August 22nd, 2008 at 7:40 am
A couple weeks ago, Nicole Wallace said that Obama filleted McCain by tying him to Bush. She worked for Bush; doesn’t she think he’s done a good job?
Hilarious.
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