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Strange Old Guy Moment: Joe McCain (John McCain's brother) Calls 911 To Complain About Traffic

dreamsugar — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 15:50:35 -0700

Alexandria (web|news) - We have the tape of a 911 call made by John McCain (web|news|bio) 's brother earlier this week.
He called the police emergency line because he was angry he was stuck in traffic.

The 911 call came into the City of Alexandria on Oct. 21st That's creating some buzz because it appears to come from Joe McCain, John McCain's brother.

Operator: 911 state your emergency

Caller: It's not an emergency but do you know why on one side at the damn drawbridge of 95traffic is stopped for 15 minutes and yet traffic's coming the other way?

Operator: Sir, are you calling 911 to complain about traffic? (pause)

Caller: "(Expletive) you." (caller hangs up)

The complaint call about traffic on the Wilson Bridge, outrageous enough that the 911 operator called back. The voicemail on the other end, appears to belong to Joe McCain, brother of presidential candidate, John McCain.

"Hi this is Joe McCain I can't take this message now because I'm involved in a very (inaudible) important political project... I hope on Nov. 4th we have elected John."

"I think it's horrible I can't believe somebody would tie up valuable resources to complain about traffic," said District resident Nancy Case.

"It seems stupid, my name can be tagged to this, why would I hose my brother, why would I do it," said District resident Rob Case.

But that wasn't all. McCain apparently called 911 again, to complain about the message the operator just left him, warning him such use of 911 is criminal.

Appears to be Joe McCain: Somebody gave me this riot act about the violation of police.

Operator: Did you just call 911 in reference to this?

Appears to be Joe McCain: Yeah.

Operator: 911 is to be used for emergencies only not just because you're sitting in traffic.

"The future president, possible president whatever, possible president, can't control what someone does but this gentleman should be fined or something should happen to him," said tourist Suzanna Rey.

The McCain campaign is not ready to comment just yet on this issue.

We also tried reaching Joe McCain but were unable to reach him.

Video at the source: http://www.wjla.com/news/stories/1008/563913.html

John McCain and the terrorist-loving Oregonian, Marylin Shannon

Shiloh Jolie Pitt — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 10:57:16 -0700

John McCain and the terrorist-loving Oregonian, Marylin Shannon
Kari Chisholm

John McCain and Sarah Palin have been desperately trying to tie Barack Obama to William Ayres - a 60s radical who has since become a professor and Chicago "citizen of the year" nominee.

But if guilt-by-association is an acceptable standard for the McCain campaign, says MSNBC's Keith Olbermann, then what do we make of one of McCain's most stalwart supporters?

It's a story first reported by the Oregonian's Jeff Mapes (on his blog, back in April), and covered here at BlueOregon.

In 1993, John McCain was the keynote speaker at a banquet for the anti-gay hate group, the Oregon Citizens Alliance. Prior to his speech, Marylin Shannon offered a prayer in praise of a woman who shot a Navy veteran and doctor who happened to work at an abortion clinic. The judge who later sentenced the shooter for a string of clinic bombings made it very clear: "You are a terrorist."

As I wrote in April:

Let's check that again. Marilyn Shannon praises a terrorist who shot a doctor while introducing John McCain, and not only does he stay, he stands up and gives a fundraising address for these terrorist-lovers?
And yes, Marylin Shannon later became a state senator, a state GOP official, and a 2008 McCain delegate.

Here's Keith Olbermann's take, last night:

Source

Ellen DeGeneres and John McCain Clash Over Gay Marriage

justingirl1989 — Thu, 22 May 2008 08:50:57 -0700

Here's one guest that won't be at Ellen DeGeneres' wedding to Portia de Rossi: John McCain.

DeGeneres engaged the presumptive Republican presidential nominee in a discussion about the "the big elephant in the room," the recent California Supreme Court ruling that legalized gay marriage, when he stopped by her show for a taped interview airing today.

"I just believe in the unique status of marriage between man and woman," McCain said. "And I know that we have a respectful disagreement on that issue."

DeGeneres, who has campaigned for Hillary Clinton, compared a ban on gay marriage to the time when "blacks and women did not have the right to vote.

"We are all the same people, all of us," said DeGeneres, who just celebrated her 50th birthday party. "You're no different than I am. Our love is the same."

McCain responded: "People should be able to enter into legal agreements, and I think that is something we should encourage, particularly in the case of insurance and other areas."

Keeping the senator on the hot seat, DeGeneres replied, "When someone says, 'You can have a contract, and you'll still have insurance and you'll get all that, it sounds to me like saying, 'Well you can sit there; you can't sit there.

"It doesn't feel inclusive… it feels… isolated," she added.

McCain admitted that DeGeneres' argument was "in a very eloquent fashion," and that he "along with many, many others, wish [her] every happiness."

DeGeneres told McCain she was "planning on having a ceremony this summer anyway, even though it wasn't legal.

"Then it just happened that I legally now can get married, like everyone should," DeGeneres said.

"We just have a disagreement," continued McCain.

"So, you'll walk me down the aisle?" DeGeneres joked.

McCain responded: "Touche."

dont like mcain..team ellen..LOL

http://www.usmagazine.com/Ellen-DeGeneres-and-John-McCain-Clash-Over-Gay...

VIDEO: John McCain: The Office's Rainn Wilson Could Be My Running Mate

justingirl1989 — Thu, 08 May 2008 08:07:08 -0700

John McCain joked about choosing his running mate on Comedy Central's Daily Show Wednesday night.

"Listen, I know you've been wondering who my vice presidential candidate is going to be," the presumptive Republican nominee told Jon Stewart. "I've got it written down. You ready?"

"You heard it here first: Dwight Schrute" – The Office character played by Rainn Wilson, McCain quiped (watch above).

"That is pandering of the highest degree!" Stewart replied.

Stewart told McCain that Hillary Clinton should be his running mate. "You would win this election," he said.

"That's one I never contemplated," McCain responded.

McCain also jokingly stood up to walk off stage when asked to repudiate President Bush, whom Stewart compared to Barack Obama's controversial former spiritual advisor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

"I am going to run a respectful campaign," McCain pledged. "I respect both [Clinton and Obama]."

http://www.usmagazine.com/video-john-mccain-the-offices-rainn-wilson-cou...

John McCain being..........John McCain

Grandpa — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 18:54:14 -0800

McCain scolds GOP for whacking Obama
By MIKE ALLEN | 12/14/08 10:05 AM EST Text Size:

In a surprising rebuke to the warriors who fought for him through tough times, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) on Sunday sided with President-elect Barack Obama and scolded the Republican National Committee for fanning the Illinois corruption scandal.

On ABC’s “This Week,” host George Stephanopoulos asked: “The chairman of the Republican National Committee, Mike Duncan, has been highly critical of the way President- elect Obama has dealt with this.

"He's had a statement every single day, saying that the Obama team should reveal all contacts they've had with Governor [Rod] Blagojevich. He says that Obama's promise of transparency to the American people is now being tested. Do you agree with that?”
McCain replied: “I think that the Obama campaign should and will give all information necessary. You know, in all due respect to the Republican National Committee and anybody - right now, I think we should try to be working constructively together, not only on an issue such as this, but on the economy stimulus package, reforms that are necessary. And so, I don't know all the details of the relationship between President-elect Obama's campaign or his people and the governor of Illinois, but I have some confidence that all the information will come out. It always does, it seems to me.”

Just this morning, the Republican National Committee released a Web video called “Questions Remain.”

“The video highlights the evolving explanations delivered by President-elect Obama and his advisers concerning their contact with the embattled and scandal-plagued Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich despite Obama’s promises to instill greater transparency and confidence in government,” the party’s announcement said.

John McCain’s Voter Suppression Committee: Why do Republicans hate democracy?

dreamsugar — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 09:36:28 -0700

Nearly a quarter of John McCain’s “Clean Election and Voter Fraud Committee,” chaired by Warren Rudman and John Danforth, have been involved in GOP voter suppression efforts or unfounded partisan claims of voter fraud. Of the 21 members of the committee, five have been engaging in these shady efforts.

Way more information on this at the source:
http://oxdown.firedoglake.com/diary/752

Funny Video* 2000 George Bush V/S 2008 John McCain. Are they MCSAME? Daily Show

PinkNC — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 09:15:09 -0700

Everyone is so tense because of the election on Tuesday, and that's understandable. So here's a little something to make us Obama supporters smile this morning

not that we need anymore reasons to vote for barack

fashionaddiKt — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 11:18:36 -0700

i think it is blatantly obvious why we should vote for barack obama over others, but here are some things i thought i might add on..

10 things you should know about John McCain (but probably don't):
John McCain voted against establishing a national holiday in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Now he says his position has "evolved," yet he's continued to oppose key civil rights laws.1

According to Bloomberg News, McCain is more hawkish than Bush on Iraq, Russia and China. Conservative columnist Pat Buchanan says McCain "will make Cheney look like Gandhi."2

His reputation is built on his opposition to torture, but McCain voted against a bill to ban waterboarding, and then applauded President Bush for vetoing that ban.3

McCain opposes a woman's right to choose. He said, "I do not support Roe versus Wade. It should be overturned."4

The Children's Defense Fund rated McCain as the worst senator in Congress for children. He voted against the children's health care bill last year, then defended Bush's veto of the bill.5

He's one of the richest people in a Senate filled with millionaires. The Associated Press reports he and his wife own at least eight homes! Yet McCain says the solution to the housing crisis is for people facing foreclosure to get a "second job" and skip their vacations.6

Many of McCain's fellow Republican senators say he's too reckless to be commander in chief. One Republican senator said: "The thought of his being president sends a cold chill down my spine. He's erratic. He's hotheaded. He loses his temper and he worries me."7

McCain talks a lot about taking on special interests, but his campaign manager and top advisers are actually lobbyists. The government watchdog group Public Citizen says McCain has 59 lobbyists raising money for his campaign, more than any of the other presidential candidates.8

McCain has sought closer ties to the extreme religious right in recent years. The pastor McCain calls his "spiritual guide," Rod Parsley, believes America's founding mission is to destroy Islam, which he calls a "false religion." McCain sought the political support of right-wing preacher John Hagee, who believes Hurricane Katrina was God's punishment for gay rights and called the Catholic Church "the Antichrist" and a "false cult."9

He positions himself as pro-environment, but he scored a 0-yes, zero-from the League of Conservation Voters last year.10

John McCain is not who the Washington press corps makes him out to be. So forward this to your personal network! And if you want stay in the loop on MoveOn's work to get the truth out about John McCain, sign up here:
http://pol.moveon.org/mccaintruth/
Thanks!
SOURCES:

1. "The Complicated History of John McCain and MLK Day," ABC News, April 3, 2008
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/04/the-complicated.html
"McCain Facts," ColorOfChange.org, April 4, 2008
http://colorofchange.org/mccain_facts/

2. "McCain More Hawkish Than Bush on Russia, China, Iraq," Bloomberg News, March 12, 2008
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aF28rSCtk0ZM&refer=u...

"Buchanan: John McCain 'Will Make Cheney Look Like Gandhi,'" ThinkProgress, February 6, 2008
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/02/06/buchanan-gandhi-mccain/
3. "McCain Sides With Bush On Torture Again, Supports Veto Of Anti-Waterboarding Bill," ThinkProgress, February 20, 2008
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/02/20/mccain-torture-veto/
4. "McCain says Roe v. Wade should be overturned," MSNBC, February 18, 2007
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17222147/
5. "2007 Children's Defense Fund Action Council® Nonpartisan Congressional Scorecard," February 2008
http://www.childrensdefense.org/site/PageServer?pagename=act_learn_score...

"McCain: Bush right to veto kids health insurance expansion," CNN, October 3, 2007
http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/10/03/mccain.interview/
6. "Beer Executive Could Be Next First Lady," Associated Press, April 3, 2008
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5h-S1sWHm0tchtdMP5LcLywg5ZtMgD8VQ86M80
"McCain Says Bank Bailout Should End `Systemic Risk,'" Bloomberg News, March 25, 2008
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aHMiDVYaXZFM&refer=h...

7. "Will McCain's Temper Be a Liability?," Associated Press, February 16, 2008
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=4301022

"Famed McCain temper is tamed," Boston Globe, January 27, 2008
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/01/27/famed_mccain_tempe...

8. "Black Claims McCain's Campaign Is Above Lobbyist Influence: 'I Don't Know What The Criticism Is,'" ThinkProgress, April 2, 2008
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/04/02/mccain-black-lobbyist/

"McCain's Lobbyist Friends Rally 'Round Their Man," ABC News, January 29, 2008
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=4210251

9. "McCain's Spiritual Guide: Destroy Islam," Mother Jones Magazine, March 12, 2008
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=3519

"Will McCain Specifically 'Repudiate' Hagee's Anti-Gay Comments?," ThinkProgress, March 12, 2008
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/03/12/mccain-hagee-anti-gay/
"McCain 'Very Honored' By Support Of Pastor Preaching 'End-Time Confrontation With Iran,'" ThinkProgress, February 28, 2008
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/02/28/hagee-mccain-endorsement/

10. "John McCain Gets a Zero Rating for His Environmental Record," Sierra Club, February 28, 2008
http://www.alternet.org/blogs/environment/77913/

What Would President McCain Have Done?

stephley — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 15:04:51 -0700

In which the author imagines what America would be like if the GOP's man had won. Critics of Obama, take note.
By Michael Lind
http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2009/06/16/president_mccain/index.h...

Picture, if you will, an America apparently like our own. A country like ours bogged down in war on two fronts and suffering from the greatest economic slump since the Great Depression of the 1930s. An America indistinguishable from ours in every respect except that when you turn on the nightly news you see the face of President John Sidney McCain ...

OK, Rod Serling as host of "The Twilight Zone" probably would have said it better. But seriously -- where would we be in the summer of 2009, if in last November's election John McCain rather than Barack Obama had been elected president of the United States?

"No difference!" would be the answer of those alienated populists and leftists for whom Republicans and Democrats are merely different tentacles of the same Bilderberger or Trilateral Commission octopus. Certainly from the perspectives of socialists or libertarians -- or fascists or Islamic theocrats -- the consensus shared by America's two parties seems much greater than their differences. But from the vantage point of mainstream American politics, the differences between the Obama administration and a hypothetical McCain administration would have been real and can be vividly illustrated by counterfactual history.

Let's start with foreign policy. Within the framework of U.S. geopolitical primacy shared by both parties, Barack Obama has departed significantly from the foreign policy of George W. Bush in both substance and style. With respect to substance, he is fulfilling his campaign promise to draw down U.S. involvement in Iraq cautiously while increasing resources for the fight against bin Laden's jihadists and their Taliban supporters, who, unlike Saddam Hussein, planned or suborned the 9/11 attacks.

McCain, by contrast, not only supported Bush's unnecessary and unjustified Iraq war, but has consistently been more hawkish than Bush, as difficult as that may be to imagine. Remember, during the 2000 Republican presidential primary McCain, not Bush, was the initial favorite of the neoconservatives, who proudly called themselves "McCainiacs." During the second Bush term of 2005-09, Republican realists like Defense Secretary Robert Gates (whom Obama wisely has retained) replaced neocons and neocon-friendly hawks allied with Dick Cheney such as Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz and Douglas Feith. If McCain had been elected, it seems likely that this would have been reversed. Neocons like Elliott Abrams, instead of dwelling in exile at the Council on Foreign Relations, might well be back making foreign policy in the executive branch.

The difference in foreign policy style would have been even more striking. America produces two kinds of soldiers -- flamboyant, aggressive warriors like MacArthur and Patton, and quiet, prudent military statesmen like Washington, Marshall and Eisenhower. McCain, the former Navy pilot and son and grandson of U.S. Navy admirals, belongs to the former mold. His patriotic and pro-military oratory is both sincere and moving to Americans -- it has often moved me -- but proclamations about the virtue of America's cause and America's invincible might that go over well in pancake dinners on the campaign trail tend to alarm people in other countries. Whatever his other lasting achievements may be, Barack Obama in only a few months has already proven to the world that all Americans are not vainglorious, swaggering, self-righteous provincials who prefer to lead by intimidation rather than by inspiration and negotiation.

Nowhere is the difference between the Obama administration and a counterfactual McCain administration greater than in Middle Eastern policy. Despite domestic political limitations, President Obama, by taking a hard line on the expansion of illegal Israeli colonies ("settlements") in Palestine, has stood up to the Israeli right and its American allies more than any president since George Herbert Walker Bush in the aftermath of the Gulf War. If McCain were president, Israel's far-right Prime Minister Netanyahu would have a close friend in the White House and the executive branch almost certainly would be staffed in part with officials with longtime ties to the Israeli right wing, as it was under George W. Bush.

In foreign policy a McCain administration would have been a third Bush term -- or even worse than Bush III, if McCain had brought neocons back to replace the realists of Bush's second term. In domestic policy, a McCain administration probably would also have been a third Bush term.

McCain opposed Bush's tax cuts at the time of their passage. However, by the time he won the Republican presidential nomination in 2008, he had not only drunk the Bush Kool-Aid but mixed some more. During the campaign he proposed making Bush's tax cuts permanent and slashing an additional $300 billion.

To be sure, presidents do not always govern on the basis of their campaign promises (contrast Obama's campaign rhetoric with his present waffling on military tribunals and Chinese currency manipulation). McCain's evident lack of interest in economics, compared to military and foreign issues, helped to sink his campaign after the world economy crashed in 2008. It is impossible to be sure how he would have responded to the crisis, had he been elected. But we can make educated guesses about the possibilities.

For one thing, a division certainly would have emerged between Republicans with ties to Wall Street and populist conservatives, particularly if McCain had retained Hank Paulson as secretary of the Treasury. Just as under Obama, under McCain congressional Republicans probably would have opposed bailouts for zombie banks and other too-big-to-fail institutions. The Wall Street wing of each party tends to defeat the populist wing, except during presidential primaries every four years -- and then only in rhetoric. So it seems likely that President McCain, perhaps reluctantly, would have consented to a continuation of the Paulson policy of bailing out the financial sector to avoid nationalization. In other words, the McCain-Paulson bailout policy would probably have been very similar to the Obama-Summers-Geithner bailout policy.

When it came to the question of stimulus spending, in a world where McCain won the White House there also would have been a divide between establishment Republicans like Martin Feldstein, who support a Keynesian stimulus, and die-hard conservatives who are opposed to any government spending, except on war. One of President McCain's top economic policymakers probably would have been Douglas Holtz-Eakin, his chief economic advisor during the campaign. In January, when the Democratic stimulus bill was being criticized, Holtz-Eakin, who has long claimed that the merits of infrastructure are oversold, argued that there was too much infrastructure spending in the stimulus.

Around the same time, Republican alternatives to the Democratic stimulus were based on tax cuts rather than public spending. In today's circumstances, as intelligent Republican economists acknowledge, this would be folly. Following years in which Americans borrowed too much, it is necessary to compensate for the collapse in aggregate demand for goods and services with more public spending on infrastructure, public services and social insurance, while Americans gradually return to a pattern of saving more. It would be insanity to cut taxes, allowing recession-crippled public services like fire departments and social insurance like unemployment benefits to collapse, in order to encourage Americans to go deeper into debt by binging at the shopping mall. (Note: Such a consumption-based stimulus makes sense in countries with manufacturing trade surpluses like China and Japan, where there needs to be a shift from overproduction for export to more domestic consumption.)

But the issue is not logic but a McCain presidency. My guess is that in Counterfactual America, the Wall Street and populist wings of the Republican Party would have agreed on a compromise: a stimulus, but a small stimulus made up mostly of tax cuts for individuals and corporations. If President McCain faced a Democratic Congress, as he probably would have, he could have used the threat of a veto to whittle down a Democratic stimulus bill, putting in more tax cuts and cutting out more infrastructure spending and aid to states and cities. That's my guess, anyway.

If I'm right, then in the summer of 2009 we might have ended up with the worst possible economic policy under President McCain: a zombie bank bailout as costly and misguided as Obama's, combined with a too-small stimulus made up mostly of tax cuts. Add premature efforts at deficit reduction likely to kill off a feeble economic recovery, and the disaster would be perfect. Given that the zombie bailouts started under Bush and that tax cuts were Bush's preferred stimulus policy, in economic policy as well as foreign policy a McCain presidency might well have resembled a third term for George W. Bush.

Obama and the Democrats are not perfect and all-wise, nor are McCain and the Republicans always wrong on all issues (that statement should be good for some hate mail!). McCain in earlier years was often praised by liberals for his support of cap-and-trade legislation like the Markey-Waxman bill, which the Obama administration has embraced. But the cap-and-trade approach, as thoughtful environmentalists like Michael Shellenberger and Ted Nordhaus have argued, and the idea of punitive carbon taxes (as opposed to a modest carbon tax, which makes sense) represent a misguided approach to energy reform based on making dirty energy more expensive, rather than seeking to make clean energy cheaper by means of largely public investments in new technologies. Today's Republican Party -- not unreasonably, in my view -- favors massive long-term investment in nuclear energy, which would slash greenhouse emissions without raising electricity prices for working Americans or driving even more American manufacturing abroad. The GOP also supports increased drilling on U.S. territory for oil and natural gas, which by lowering the price of both could weaken autocratic and hostile petro-states. I disagree with the Republican Party about most things, but as the saying goes, even a blind hog finds an acorn now and then.

Healthcare is another area where McCain deserves some credit. During the campaign McCain, like Obama, favored subsidizing the purchase of private health insurance by uninsured Americans without eliminating employer health insurance plans. During the campaign Obama criticized McCain for suggesting that this could be paid for by taxing at least some employer-provided health insurance benefits. But now that Democrats want to formulate a real healthcare plan over the summer, there is a growing consensus that the costs of expanded coverage should be paid for in part by taxes on some if not all employer benefits. On that particular issue, and a few others like a greatly expanded child tax credit, candidate McCain was right.

On balance, however, I think it is hard to argue that the country would not be in worse shape today under President McCain than it is in under President Obama. In foreign policy we would probably have a revival of neoconservatism, with incalculable damage to America's reputation in the world. In domestic policy, President McCain might have used his veto power and an alliance with conservative Blue Dog Democrats in a Democratic majority Congress to salvage the Bush tax cuts and thwart an adequate stimulus. Then there's regulatory reform of the financial sector, which has yet to occur. As deferent as the Obama administration is to Wall Street, can anyone doubt that a McCain administration would have been even more deferent?

The Obama administration deserves, and can benefit from, thoughtful criticism. But before giving up on Obama after only a few months, critics of this president should ask: WWMD? (What Would McCain Do?)

Jezebel Lifts Best Comments from Rolling Stone's McCain Profile (public)

stephley — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 15:44:22 -0700

If we had to choose one good thing (and there are many) from Tim Dickinson's profile of John McCain in the new issue of Rolling Stone, it would be the plethora of insults that Dickinson finds to amuse the reader. I mean, if you're at all like us, the same-old McCain insults - old, out of touch, unfunny, wrong on the issues, quick-to-anger, Cap'n Crappypants - are getting boring. That's why we decided to round up the new ones... after the jump!

From former POW John Dramesi: "he's still the undisciplined, spoiled brat that he was when he went in [to the Navy]"
"a man who has consistently put his own advancement above all else"
"a man willing to say and do anything to achieve his ultimate ambition"
"George W. Bush was a much better pilot."
"Larry Wilkerson, a retired Army colonel who served as chief of staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell [said] 'John McCain made his reputation on the fact that he doesn't bend his principles for politics. That's just not true.'"
"McCain has become the kind of politician he ran against in 2000."
"he has engaged in a 'practice of politics' so deceptive that even Rove himself has denounced it."
"'John McCain's ambition overrode his basic character,' says Rita Hauser, who served on the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board from 2001 to 2004."
"John McCain is his own special interest."
Former Republican Senator Lincoln Chafee says, "McCain is putting himself first. He's putting himself first in blinking neon lights."
"John Sidney McCain III has spent most of his life trying to escape the shadow of greater men."
"he concedes his runty physique inspired a Napoleon complex"
High school nicknames included "Punk" and "McNasty."
One former classmate called him, "a mean little f*cker."
"petulant"
"abusive"
The Commandant of the Naval Academy "[called] McCain 'spoiled' to his face."
Phil Butler, an Annapolis classmate, said: "He was a huge screw-off."
"McCain chased a lot of tail... He picked up models when he could, screwed a stripper when he couldn't."
"In the air, the hard-partying McCain had a knack for stalling out his planes in midflight. "
"Enemy planes destroyed by McCain: two. American planes destroyed by McCain: two."
Dramesi says about McCain's time in Hanoi: "This business of my country before my life?" Well, he had that opportunity and failed miserably. If it really were country first, John McCain would probably be walking around without one or two arms or legs - or he'd be dead."
Also, it didn't take long for the North Vietnamese to "break" McCain: he squealed like a pig pretty early, and apparently in exchange for medical treatment.
Only two weeks after his capture, the North Vietnamese press issued a report - picked up by The New York Times - in which McCain was quoted as saying that the war was "moving to the advantage of North Vietnam and the United States appears to be isolated." He also provided the name of his ship, the number of raids he had flown, his squadron number and the target of his final raid.

"Parts of his memoir recounting his days in Hanoi read like a bad Ian Fleming novel, with his Vietnamese captors cast as nefarious Bond villains."
Says his Annapolis classmate Butler (also a POW): ""John allows the media to make him out to be the hero POW, which he knows is absolutely not true, to further his political goals."
"The reckless, womanizing hotshot who leaned on family connections for advancement before his capture in Vietnam emerged a reckless, womanizing celebrity who continued to pull strings."
"he was unembarrassed by his own nepotism"
"For good measure, he crashed his third and final plane, this one a single-engine ultralight." That means he crashed 3 planes, not including when he was shot down after failing to take evasive maneuvers.
"[Bob] Smith, the former senator from New Hampshire, has said that McCain's 'temper would place this country at risk in international affairs, and the world perhaps in danger. In my mind, it should disqualify him.'"
"Sen. [Pete] Domenici of New Mexico has said he doesn't 'want this guy anywhere near a trigger.'"
"And Sen. Thad Cochran of Mississippi weighed in that 'the thought of his being president sends a cold chill down my spine. He is erratic. He is hotheaded.'"
"'He's going to be Bush on steroids,' says Johns, the retired brigadier general who has known McCain since their days at the National War College."
"Indeed, McCain's neocon makeover is so extreme that Republican generals like Colin Powell and Brent Scowcroft have refused to endorse their party's nominee."
""The fact of the matter is his judgment about what to do in Iraq was wrong,' says Richard Clarke, who served as Bush's counterterrorism czar until 2003."
Also from Clarke: "we're at risk because of the mistaken judgment of people like John McCain."
"McCain has demonstrated an unwavering commitment to taking whatever position will advance his own career."
"He 'is the classic opportunist,' according to Ross Perot, who worked closely with McCain on POW issues. 'He's always reaching for attention and glory.'"
And, finally, one more from Clarke: "I'm sure John McCain loves his country. But loving your country and lying to the American people are apparently not inconsistent in his view."