What A Jerk!

John McCain, the maverick? Apparently not anymore.

“I never considered myself a maverick,” McCain told Newsweek’s David Margolick in an interview in which he seems to distance himself from his trademark moniker. “I consider myself a person who serves the people of Arizona to the best of his abilities.”

But as recently as last month, McCain’s 2008 running mate, Sarah Palin, touted the Arizona senator’s “maverick” status, referring to “McCain the Maverick” four times in 15 minutes at a campaign rally in Tuscon.

(The Newsweek piece, is ironically subtitled “A maverick fights for his political life–and his soul.”)

Until now, McCain was never reluctant to embrace the “maverick” label. Here’s a look at some of his past ads and appearances that tout his maverickiness

John McCain: I’m NOT A Maverick — Or Am I? (VIDEOS).

Oh looky here, John McCain, for the first time ever, is squeezing himself into a situation that doesn’t involve him at all. My friends, let this man sit down! Fill out my form to buy Scott Brown a stool! He has been standing for so long and must sit. He must be seated LITERALLY RIGHT NOW IN THE SENATE! 100% of Americans want Scott Brown to elect himself president and take the Oval Office by about oh say 4:30 p.m. tomorrow, but first he must sit in the Senate — in any chair whatsoever within the physical Senate chamber — for a few minutes! AMERICA NEEDS THIS.

Ass Hat Palin

Sarah Palin believed that Sen. John McCain chose her to be his running mate in 2008 because of “God’s plan,” according to a top political strategist in the Arizona Republican’s campaign.

In an interview with the CBS news magazine “60 Minutes,” Steve Schmidt described Palin as “very calm – nonplussed” after McCain met with her at his Arizona ranch just before putting her on the Republican ticket. McCain had planned to name Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., as his vice presidential choice until word leaked, sparking what Schmidt called political blowback over picking the 2000 Democratic vice presidential nominee.

Schmidt said he asked Palin about her serenity in the face of becoming “one of the most famous people in the world.” He quoted her as saying, “It’s God’s plan.”

Palin has not ruled out a run for the presidency.

Schmidt was interviewed by “60 Minutes” for a segment about a new book about the 2008 presidential race, “Game Change,” by John Heilemann of New York magazine and Mark Halperin of Time magazine.

more……

Steve Schmidt: Palin Believed Candidacy ‘God’s Plan’.

Still an Ass Hat

Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.) offered a rare defense of Barack Obama on Sunday — and an even rarer rebuke of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) — after the Arizona Republican accused the president of “leading an extreme left-wing crusade to bankrupt America.”

In what was a reversal of the role he played during the presidential campaign — when he stumped on McCain’s behalf and spoke at the Republican convention — Lieberman said he disagreed with the anti-Obama radio ads McCain is running in his home state.

“You know every now and then John McCain and I disagree sometimes, and that’s one of the cases,” Lieberman said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “So I don’t agree with that. I think the president understands the importance of bringing our government back into balance. Look he came in, in a most difficult economic time, inheriting a national debt that had doubled in the preceding eight years. I think you are going to hear from the president in the State of a Union, maybe earlier, about some tough medicine for our economy. We need it and I hope that there will be bipartisan support in Congress for doing that.”

more….

Role Reversal: Lieberman Defends Obama From McCain.

It’s no surprise that Republicans want to halt the march to historic health-care reform with any calumny they can muster. But their latest attack on the new Senate deal—the charge that allowing Americans aged 55 to 64 to buy into Medicare would lead the country to a single-payer system—is as laughable as it is misguided. It’s ironic that this shameful stone is being hurled by the nation’s most prominent life-long recipient of government-run health care: John McCain.

McCain’s invocation of the single-payer libel is particularly galling, since he’s been on government-run health care practically his entire adult life.

There’s only one thing you need to know to understand why the GOP single-payer charge is a hoax: The Democrats’ proposed health-care reform represents the biggest subsidized expansion of private-insurance coverage in American history. Let me repeat that: The Democrats’ proposed health-care reform represents the biggest subsidized expansion of private-insurance coverage in American history. This choice was made by Barack Obama at the start, when the president said we should build on what works in today’s system, plugging gaps in coverage while reining in costs. The Senate and House bills thus devote more than $400 billion over 10 years to subsidize the purchase of new private-insurance policies. Can the road to single-payer really be paved with massive new markets (and profits) for the insurance industry?

McCain’s invocation of the single-payer libel is particularly galling, since he’s been on government-run health care practically his entire adult life: first in the military; then as a veteran; then as a member of Congress, where for over 25 years he’s enjoyed the same choice of private-insurance plans that the new Senate compromise would make available to ordinary Americans.

Suppose McCain had been voted out of office in 1992 after the Keating Five savings-and-loan scandal sullied his reputation. He was then 56 years old. And suppose that McCain didn’t have his wife’s enormous wealth to insulate him from the exorbitant health premiums a man with his pre-existing conditions would have faced. Or that he couldn’t go back to work and enjoy access to group health coverage at the giant beer distributorship his wife’s family owns (where McCain worked before he first ran for public office). In such circumstances, you can bet McCain would have been grateful for the chance buy into Medicare to protect himself and his family from medical and financial ruin.

If every aging, displaced worker in America had McCain’s incumbency or inherited wealth to fall back on, it’s true—the ability to buy into Medicare would be superfluous. But most Americans aren’t in the Senate or married to an heiress. For most Americans, losing a job (and health coverage) in your late 50s or early 60s spells catastrophe. For McCain to set aside the obvious empathy he must feel for this vulnerable group in order to score cheap political points is dishonorable.

via The GOP’s New Health-Care Hoax – Page 1 – The Daily Beast.