Claiming McCain "tangled with conservatives before" on taxes and immigration, Shuster didn't note reversals
SUMMARY: In a Hardball report on Sen. John McCain's position on the environment, MSNBC's David Shuster pointed to "taxes" and "immigration" as evidence that McCain has "tangled with conservatives before." But Shuster did not report that McCain has since embraced conservative positions on both of those issues, now supporting the permanent extension of the Bush tax cuts and saying that he would no longer support his own immigration bill if it came up for a vote in the Senate.
During the May 13 edition of MSNBC's Hardball, discussing Sen. John McCain's position on the environment and backlash to that position, MSNBC correspondent David Shuster pointed to "taxes" and "immigration" as evidence that McCain has "tangled with conservatives before" without noting that McCain has since embraced conservative positions on those issues, now supporting the permanent extension of the Bush tax cuts when he originally opposed them and saying that he would no longer support his own immigration bill if it came up for a vote in the Senate.
From the May 13 edition of MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews:
[video clip]
SHUSTER: McCain has long supported environmental protections, and his campaign is betting the loss of conservatives on this will be far outweighed by the new support he gains from Democrats and independents. It's why McCain even took a swipe at President Bush for failing to make progress on the Kyoto global climate treaty.
McCAIN: I will not accept the same dead end of failed diplomacy that claimed Kyoto. The United States will lead, and will lead with a different approach.
SHUSTER: Still, the backlash against McCain and his governmental solution has been fierce.
MARK LEVIN (radio host): Millions of bureaucrats who don't have the foggiest idea what they're doing. And these political hacks -- how does John McCain's service in the military and 24 years in Congress make him an expert on this? It doesn't. And he's not. It's all gibberish.
[end video clip]
SHUSTER: McCain has tangled with conservatives before, most notably on taxes, immigration, and campaign finance reform. The irony with global warming is that McCain is also taking fire now from environmentalists, who argue his proposals would be too little, too late.
I think when a candidate claims multiple positions on a majority of major issues, they end up tangling with just about everyone.
Here's an idea, McCain - choose a position and stick with it!! Look how well it worked for your buddy Bush...
These hacks, they need to develope a Unified Theory on "conservatives" and "conservatism", because as it stands now, they seem to be contradicting one another...
In the analysis after Democrats won another special election, for a House seat from Mississippi, it seems that Democrats won that seat, for the same reason a Democrat won a seat in a special election in Louisiana recently: because they adopted "conservative" views, they masqueraded (Democrats did in those two special elections) as "conservatives"...
But here we not only have John McCain going against that grain, and "tangling with conservatives", but we have him running away from the breed, like fashion models run from lepers...
Which is it: is "conservatism" a winner in American elections right now, or is it a loser?
And if those two Democrats in Louisiana and Mississippi won those two special elections, by adopting "conservative" views, then why did those two Republicans in those two elections lose?
If it's "conservatism" the voters wanted in those two special elections, why did they choose Democrats over Republicans?
I mean, it'd be like choosing a motel-wall copy of a Rembrandt, over the real thing, wouldn't it?
We need a Unified Theory of "conservatism" in American Politics right now: winner, or loser?
We'll know for sure, in November I guess.
POV -
In the last three special elections, Democrats have won seats in heavily Republican districts - including one that had been GOP-controlled since 1974. It's a sign of things to come - the nightmare of GOP control is nearly over, and America will return to progressive sanity at last.
And given that 39% of dems want HC to tun as an independent, it is far from a settled matter.
I am still interested as to why a progressive such as yourself feels it is ok to make a joke about homosexuals. How is that progressive sanity?
How is that progressive sanity?
Albert Einstein once said that insanity was doing the same thing over and over again, hoping for a different result. That being said, conservatism is a perfect example of insanity, while the progressive stance of finding new solutons for problems is sanity personified.
And your failure t grasp my "tangle-tango" comment as nothing more than the simple play on words I intended it to be speaks volumes about you, POV.
Come again? The D's may lose IMO, but you're saying it's because of Dem's tendency to be intolerant of gays relative to the the R's?
Kinda shows that POV's grasp on reality is tenuous at best.....
I agree that us liberals shouldn't really be making gay jokes, although I think the joke was an attempt at irony that missed the mark. That said, what makes you think McCain and the Republican party is a viable option for homosexuals? It is pretty easy to selectively criticize the Dems for not being pro gay marriage or something like that, but what positive positions are the Republicans taking specifically that homosexuals might be interested in...just wondering.
POV:
Get over yourself. The joke is about the hypocrisy of gay Republicans who bash homosexuality in public and practice it in private.
Try to keep up, will ya?
He's not ridiculing homosexuals, he's mocking hypocrites like Larry Craig and Mark Foley who were so hell-bent against the "sinful lifestyle" but were actually engaging in similar acts.
THANK YOU for understanding a simple concept that appears to be beyond POV's ability to understand.
One more thought... This reminds me the whining argument of right wingers, which has resurfaced in the past few days, that they are not allowed to speak Barack Obama's middle name, Hussein, but Obama and liberals are. Are these people that stupid? If you envoke Obama's middle name in order to suggest some nefarious, and dishonest, connotation such as that he is a Muslim or not a true American, that is WRONG.
I too have made sarcastic remarks about hypocritical (again, a redundancy) Republicans here referencing gay people. If gay people were offended I would wholeheartedly and sincerely apologize. But don't you think gay people are hip enough to understand the context of the reference and have a chuckle over it?
Oh... I am so sorry if I perpetuated a sterotype that gay people are hip. ;>)
Not only are they "hip", they are "with it", "groovy", and "neat-o". :-)
But don't you think gay people are hip enough to understand the context of the reference and have a chuckle over it?
Over the years, I have had many gay friends - kids I went through school, people I worked with, and a few great people I met through my ex-wife (who came out as a lesbian several years after we divorced). I KNOW they all would have seen the humor in my post, and acknowledged the GOP hypocrisy it highlighted.
I jokingly tell my gay brother-in-law that I have been so abused and taken advantage of by women all my life (another joke) that I should have given up on women a long time ago and been gay. Except there's that thing about having sex with other men...that's the deal-killer for me... ;>)
I remember a few years after my ex-wife came out that she and i were talking. I told her, "Do you realize that after all these years, you and I finally have something in common?"
She asked, "What's that?"
To which I replied, "We both like girls."
Following that exchange was one of the best laughs we ever shared.....
I thought I was the only one noticing this, regarding the wingnut response to "Hussein" and the gay jokes here. Are these guys so out of ideas that just stubbornly refusing to understand something, or pretending not to understand, is seen as an argument?
Look at this thread. How many times was the joke explained to the same poster, and the responses don't change at all. This is how toddlers argue, and makes me concerned for what level the wingnuts may be reduced to by November.
John McCain just may go down as the best prognosticator since The Amazing Criswell.
He's predicting that by the end of his first term there will be an end to the War in Iraq, peace and security throughout the Middle East. A booming economy and candy and ponies for each and every one of us.
I don't know about you, but I'm convinced.
I don't know about you, but I'm convinced.
I wouldn't be convinced even after chug-a-lugging a tanker car full of right-wing Kool-Aid......
...and candy and ponies for each and every one of us.
Not exactly... The poor people will each get crackers and a dog... with P-O-N-Y painted on the saddle. ;>)
We're getting saddles too?
Saddles, too?
Yep...made in China. ;>)
Wow!
We're getting saddles too?
But we have to wear them.....
Now he's saying we're going to capture or kill Osama Bin Laden and we're never going to have any more cloudy days.
Nothing but sunshine if we vote Republican.