PULLING STRINGS FOR SENATOR McCAIN

PDF Version: World Affairs Brief February 1, 2008
World Affairs Brief, February 1, 2008. Commentary and Insights on a Troubled World.
Copyright Joel Skousen. Partial quotations with attribution permitted. Cite source as Joel Skousen's World Affairs Brief ( http://www.worldaffairsbrief.com )

PULLING STRINGS FOR SENATOR McCAIN

The US political circus is an amazing, if not agonizing, show to watch. First, we saw Rudy Giuliani, the establishment's pre-election favorite (only because the media said so) go from front runner status to a disastrous showing in the primaries--garnering less votes than Rep. Ron Paul, who was systematically denied any meaningful media coverage at all. It appears the public is either fickle or the media polls were just plain lying--perhaps both. Then we saw John McCain with almost no support suddenly rise to front runner status after a barrage of big name newspaper and personality endorsements so unanimous that there had to have existed some guiding hand. The establishment boost for McCain is still ongoing in a big way and is intended to gain McCain a majority of delegates before the convention convenes--which would eliminate a brokered convention where deals and concession have to be made in order to gain that majority. In an up or down vote between McCain or Romney, without Huckabee to draw away votes from Romney, McCain would lose. That's what the king makers are trying to avoid by manipulating the public during the primaries. It's time to let America know more about the real McCain.

Believe me, he is no hero.

First, a suspicious view from the Left. British journalist Johann Hari of The Independent in Britain tells Americans "Don't be fooled by the myth of John McCain."

"A lazy, hazy myth has arisen out of the mists of New Hampshire and South Carolina. Across the pan-Atlantic press, the grizzled 71-year-old Vietnam vet, John McCain, is being billed as the Republican liberals can live with. He is 'a bipartisan progressive,' 'a principled hard liberal,' 'a decent man' --in the words of liberal newspapers. His fragile new frontrunner status as we go into Super Tuesday is being seen as something to cautiously welcome, a kick to the rotten Republican establishment….

"McCain … was sent to one of the most elite boarding schools in America, then to a naval academy where he ranked 894th of 899 students in ability. He used nepotism to get ahead: When he was rejected by the National War College, he used his father's contacts with the Secretary of the Navy to make them reconsider…

"Right up to his twenties, he remained a strikingly violent man, 'ready to fight at the drop of a hat,' according to his biographer Robert Timberg. This rage seems to be at the core of his personality: describing his own childhood, McCain has written: 'At the smallest provocation I would go off into a mad frenzy, and then suddenly crash to the floor unconscious. When I got angry I held my breath until I blacked out.' But he claims he was transformed by his experiences in Vietnam... His plane was shot down on a bombing raid over Hanoi, and he was captured and tortured for five years [Not all true. He was tortured at first, and then he collaborated with his captors until released]. …

One blogger named "Dan" offered up this list on the internet about John McCain's abysmal record as a "conservative:"

IMMIGRATION: he wrote the bill granting amnesty to illegal immigrants (co-sponsored by Ted Kennedy)

SOCIAL SECURITY: he voted to give your social security money to illegal immigrants
TAXES: he voted against the Bush tax cuts multiple times (but still campaigns as a lifelong tax-cutter)

FIRST AMENDMENT: he wrote the McCain-Feingold campaign finance bill that was declared to be an unconstitutional infringement of the 1st Amendment (co-sponsored by ultra-liberal Democrat Russ Feingold)

SECOND AMENDMENT: he was called the 'worst 2nd amendment candidate' by the president of the NRA

ENERGY TAX: wrote a bill (co-sponsored by his buddy Sen. Joe Lieberman) imposing a massive tax on energy which, according to the Department of Energy, would drastically raise the price of gasoline.

GLOBAL WARMING: supports radical global warming legislation

JUDGES: he joined with Democrats (Gang of 14) to block the Senate Republican's attempt to confirm conservative, strict constructionist judges.

GAY MARRIAGE: he joined liberals to fight against a federal marriage amendment

CHRISTIANS: In 2000, he famously described Christian leaders as 'agents of intolerance'

ABORTION: he filed an amicus brief against pro-life advocates in Wisconsin

BI-PARTISANSHIP: he met with leading Democrats in 2004 to discuss the possibility of being John Kerry's VP.

ETHICS: ringleader of the infamous Keating 5 ethical scandal which cost US tax payers $160 billion

PERSONAL: McCain cheated on his first wife after she had a severe accident. He then divorced her and married his multi-millionaire mistress, whose daddy bought McCain a spot in the Congress.

With all of this, establishmen king-makers have their hands full trying to turn sow's ear into a silk purse. As John M. Broder writes, "Mr. McCain, who has delighted in sticking his thumb in the eye of mainstream Republicans throughout his political career, is now accumulating a base of support among party regulars who see him as the strongest general election candidate in the remaining Republican field."

This is not true at all. McCain's support comes almost exclusively from the same insiders who were promoting Giuliani. They all switched to McCain when someone gave them the signal that Giuliani wasn't going to make it (too many corruption scandals revealed and more on the way), and they needed to make sure Romney didn't accrue the remaining Republican support.

I don't pretend to know who's making these calls that direct these perfectly timed endorsements, but I know something is going on behind the scenes that is "too good to be true" to be natural. Consider:

All six major newspapers that gave any endorsement just prior to the Iowa caucus and New Hampshire primary (and they did so within a day of each other) came out for McCain who was polling in last place. None for Giuliani, the front runner? None! There were no other endorsements for any other Republicans. There was even an anti-endorsement of Romney.

That's unheard of.

Look at the crucial Florida primary. As John Nichols writes, "Florida gave McCain a clear if hardly overwhelming victory over his chief rival for the GOP nod, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney. With most of the votes counted, McCain had 36 percent of the vote. Romney had 31 percent. …

Bush conservatives don't really run the party. They are merely the ignorant cheerleaders. The Powers That Be have their own people at the top positions, and these people are anything but moral, and anything but religious. These are the ones driving the McCain surge back to the top. They are working the endorsement angle in strategic block moves.

They tapped Pro-homosexual Republican governor Charlie Crist to come out and endorsed McCain--McCain was ignorant of the fact, which was telling--someone else was whispering in Crist's ear. The Crist endorsement came a mere 24 hours after Senator Mel Martinez (a Latino and the recent Chair of the Republican National Committee) came out for McCain, which helped sway thousands of Cuban-American votes in So. Florida toward McCain. If anyone's endorsement represents the Republican establishment it is Martinez's….

In Florida, former Gov. Mike Huckabee was clearly playing the role of McCain cheerleader and spoiler for Romney. Every chance Huckabee got, he plied McCain with compliments and bashed Romney. Huckabee was singlehandedly responsible for denying Romney wins in key northern counties where Huckabee split off the evangelical Christian vote. What is even more telling is that Huckabee has said he is going to stay in the race until the end, despite only getting 13% of the Florida vote. I suspect the establishment is playing him along for a possible Vice President spot, on condition that he stay in the race to draw votes away from Romney. Huckabee is thinking that he can act as some kind of power broker at the convention if he stays, but that's wishful thinking. The establishment isn't going to let any evangelical Christian gain high office, unless they also happen to be a member of Skull and Bones, like George Bush.

Giuliani is finished, having only garnered 14% of the Florida vote. Still, he flew out to California just to make a big media splash by endorsing McCain. Topping off the list of endorsements before the big California primary on Tuesday was that of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger--the Terminator (of Romney). Ever since Schwarzenegger's meeting with Lord Rothschild and the Bilderbergers in 2005, he's been acting more the globalist than the "conservative" governor of California he was elected to be.

No matter how much Romney bends over backwards to promote establishment political doctrine, the establishment doesn't want him. It's not only because he is a Mormon--it's the fact that he came into this race totally uninvited, with enough money to remain independent--that's what they don't like. This a closed political club that controls both major parties, and the stakes for them are too high to take a chance on trying to control an outsider as President. They had enough problems controlling Reagan….

What one can draw from all this is that the American public is very much manipulated by the media perceptions of who is declared the "front runner," who is "losing steam" or who is "not going to win." …