Putting Country First
Here’s Howard Fineman on the McCain campaign’s claims that Barack Obama doesn’t put his country first:
I asked McCain’s closest advisor and friend, Mark Salter, for an example of a time when Obama did not “put the country first.” His answer: the Senate maneuvering of immigration legislation. In his view, Obama did big labor’s bidding by helping to kill the chances for a grand compromise on immigration reform. “His campaign came before his country,” Salter told me in an e-mail. In other words, if you weren’t for McCain’s deal, you didn’t put the country first.
This might have been a good opportunity for Fineman to note that not only is this completely absurd — Obama supported the idea of a grand bargain on immigration but had a somewhat different conception of what a good deal would be — but also that in order to get the nomination John McCain said he would vote against his own immigration bill:
Under the circumstances, you’d think McCain’s people would want to keep attention off the immigration issue.
35 Responses to “Putting Country First”
Register
RSSLogin
Topic Cloud
ArchivesBlog RollAbout Matt YglesiasContact Me
Donate
August 14th, 2008 at 2:54 pm
Only if they believe the media will call them on it, which would be contrary to experience.
August 14th, 2008 at 3:01 pm
Ouch.
August 14th, 2008 at 3:02 pm
The response is, of course, McCain’s (and Salter’s) shtick, and has been ofr a long, long time: whatever their current position is must by definition be the only acceptable, honorable position, and anyone who does not adhere to it hates America and is a venial partisan. The facts that McCain’s position is highly variable and that those who disagree might by pushing for minor alterations or changes even in emphasis are immaterial.
Little wonder McCain’s got so little to show for three decades in Congress.
P.S. can we please get a preview function for these comments? It’s great the submission is less buggy here than at the Atlantic, but it’s less good we’ve lost that one bit of functionality the Atlantic’s comments actually possessed.
August 14th, 2008 at 3:04 pm
if you weren’t for McCain’s deal, you didn’t put the country first
…and Broder nods his head in agreement.
August 14th, 2008 at 3:05 pm
Are they really that stupid? Or do they think we are?
August 14th, 2008 at 3:06 pm
Fineman ain’t gonna call nuthin. He thinks McCain’s like Shane.
August 14th, 2008 at 3:16 pm
but McCain would never question somebody’s patriotism
August 14th, 2008 at 3:24 pm
ed says: Fineman ain’t gonna call nuthin.
Fineman says: I asked McCain’s closest advisor and friend, Mark Salter, for an example of a time when Obama did not “put the country first.” His answer: the Senate maneuvering of immigration legislation. In his view . . . if you weren’t for McCain’s deal, you didn’t put the country first.
August 14th, 2008 at 3:24 pm
ummmm … the labor movement has been supporting immigration reform for over a decade now, and even the compromise bill (parts of which plenty of labor folks objected to) generally had support from the unions (esp. SEIU and UniteHERE) that have been long time Obama supporters. What a weird example for Salter to raise: why not harp on the surge some more? Or coastal drilling?
August 14th, 2008 at 3:36 pm
Doesn’t McCain seem to have decided to put Georgia first, at least if we take his rhetoric seriously?
August 14th, 2008 at 3:43 pm
But didn’t you hear? We’re all Georgians now. So putting Georgia or America first comes to the same thing.
August 14th, 2008 at 4:34 pm
Well, Scheunemann is, if nothing else, an honorary Georgian.
August 14th, 2008 at 4:56 pm
Obama did big labor’s bidding by helping to kill the chances for a grand compromise on immigration reform.
Why does McCain’s flip-flopping on his own bill (classic, btw) even matter? This reason on its face is more Taking Pride in Being Ignorant.
August 14th, 2008 at 8:53 pm
pedestrian, no reaosn it has to be or:-)
August 15th, 2008 at 3:35 am
I always assumed that the ‘putting America first’ argument just ’secret’ code for Obama not *really* being American.
So I guess I’m not terribly surprised that the give-me-an-example gotcha question didn’t really allow for very satisfying delving.
August 15th, 2008 at 8:35 am
The underlying rhetorical argument is that voting against McCain’s opinion (even if it is an opinion he voted against later) shows a lack of patriotism or American roots. After the last eight years, this logic has to be identified, called out, and rejected. It needs to be shot down like a mad dog. Even in the midst of campaign silly season, this toxic line of argument cannot stand.
August 15th, 2008 at 8:42 pm
I know for a fact that he doers not put Arizona first.
Why is this Arizona resident not supporting John McCain?
With out question it is his lack of support for our state in Washington. McCain’s call to fame is that he is the only representative in Washington never to request any earmarks for his home state. What does that prove? To me it shows that in McCain’s mind Arizona is so wealthy that we do not need any assistance from Washington. It seems he is happy to see all the tax dollars that we send to DC go to other states. Wake up John McCain! Arizona has Indian Reservations with unemployment over 60%. We have beautiful rural areas that would greatly benefit from an increase in tourism. McCain’s lack of concern for Arizona shows that when John and Cindy fly over our state in their private plane that they do not pay attention to the people that live outside of Scottsdale. Lets see if in November the citizens of Arizona will send him a message and not vote for him.
March 1st, 2009 at 5:50 am
viagra
Incredible site!
March 10th, 2009 at 7:21 pm
amazing stuff thanx
March 11th, 2009 at 4:44 am
Great site. Good info
March 12th, 2009 at 11:32 pm
It is the coolest site,keep so!
March 17th, 2009 at 2:29 am
Very interesting site. Hope it will always be alive!
tramadol
March 22nd, 2009 at 6:18 am
tramadol
I want to say – thank you for this!
April 3rd, 2009 at 4:15 am
Excellent site. It was pleasant to me.
cheap brand pfizer viagra
April 4th, 2009 at 2:57 am
ouibdhxjp ihwvrsc xnpu pvwxhq gxhpktim qzirelp lzurpfb
April 9th, 2009 at 6:22 am
Very interesting site, Hope it will always be alive! viagra