More On The "McCain Trailblazer / Haiti Telcom" Scandal

Lucy Komisar just published the documents on her blog.
This is, of course, re: this.

McCain Camp Admits Ad Was False

After the NYT's and WaPo get on their case. [via Daily Kos]

More On Whom The Associated Press Associates With [Hint: John McCain]

Ron Fournier — the AP's acting Washington Bureau Chief, and the man most responsible for its recent shift toward less objective and more 'analytical' coverage — was vigorously pursued by the McCain campaign, in March of 2007, for "a senior advisory role” in communications.

How much damage will RF bring to the most omnipresent and neutral-seeming name in journalism once the story has played out? God (R–HV) only knows.

McCain Not Entirely Neglected by the NYT...

Much has been made of the fact McCain's editorial (or at least an editorial emerging from the McCain team's word processing system) for the New York Times was returned for further revisions.

However, the mostly-characterized-as-liberal paper did feature an op-ed from the McCain man's former communication director, Dan Schnur.

Meanwhile, McCain leaves no doubt that he plans to overstay, excuse me, stay his welcome right here in the US of A... Shown below advocating for further oil drilling of California shores.

"$4.00 A Gallon"

[On Google: McCain + Milk = Gaffe]

McCain "Trailblazer" And Lots Of Other GOP People in Haiti Telcom Scandal

So, in the wake of his firm receiving a $1.3 million fine from the Federal Communication Commission, Jim Courter (one of John McCain's top fundraisers*) has stepped down from the position of national finance co-chairman for the candidate's presidential campaign.

New Jersey-based IDT — of which Courter is CEO — was fined by the FCC for failing to file a contract for telephone service to Haiti in 2004. More interesting, however, as Lucy Komisar points out:

Its work with Haiti has been put under scrutiny since a former employee, Michael Jewett, then IDT’s manager for the Caribbean, sued the company. His suit claims he was fired when he balked at negotiating a scheme that routed a portion of the company’s long distance revenue from Haiti calls to a shell company owned by then-president Jean-Bertrand Aristide. [...] In a quarterly S.E.C. report filed June 6, IDT's balance sheet shows $365 million "income taxes payable," meaning the sum is put aside for back taxes. The figure was zero last year.

All the executives below Courter involved with the Haiti deal are gone. The June report announced the "involuntary" departure of the chief legal officer.

Top-tier Republicans have also bailed out.

William Weld, former G.O.P. governor of Massachusetts, was head of corporate governance at IDT but resigned after the Jewett complaint was unsealed in July 2005.

IDT announced in October 2006 that its entire board would not seek reelection, including former congressman and vice presidential nominee Jack Kemp, former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Jeane Kirkpatrick, former Virginia Governor Jim Gilmore, former Minnesota Senator Rudy Boschwitz, and former Washington Senator Slade Gorton. [Note: I posted all their faces at the above left. From top to bottom: McCain with Gorton; Courter; Boschwitz; McCain with Kemp; Kirkpatrick; and, lastly, Gilmore with an eye patch photoshopped on by another blogger.]

"Why do you put very powerful politicians on your board. Because you like them, you think they’re capable and they buy you protection," said Herbert Denton, president of the New York investment firm Providence Capital, which owned IDT stock. "Why do they leave at the same time? I speculate there’s something rotten in Denmark."

I hope this story gets some traction.

[*He seems to get a lot of his coworkers to donate.]

AP: McCain visits German restaurant — in Ohio

(WARNING: This post contains at least one pun.)

A funny/endearing headline for McCain, courtesy of the AP — who may or may not be in the tank for him at this point.

WaPo picked it up as well — because, basically, this is a joke too tasty* to turn down that I'm sure the McCain campaign lunged for in an effort to redirect some media attention toward their candidate on Obama's big day in Berlin.

From "the Trail":

Asked whether he was trying to make a point by coming to a German restaurant while Obama was in the real country, McCain took a mild swipe at his rival.

"Well I'd love to give a speech in Germany to [sic!**]-- a political speech -- or a speech that maybe the German people would be interested in. But I would much prefer to do it as president of the United States rather than as a candidate for the office of the presidency."

"Oh, Burn!" These petty, yellow snowballs are probably why nobody follows the news (well, that and all the depressing stuff).

*[Chortle.]
**[For shame, WaPo copy editors!]

Jindal Says Back The F*#$ Up

This Wednesday, John McCain praised two VP picks whilst on a shopping spree at the local Bethlehem, PA market.

Earlier at a stop at a grocery store, where the presumptive Republican presidential nominee got a look at the high price of milk and other staples, he spoke highly of two people said to be on his short list: Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal.

Unfortunately, Governor Jindal doesn't agree.

But Jindal told Fox News on Wednesday he wasn’t interested in being vice president.

“Let me be clear: I have said in every private and public conversation, I’ve got the job that I want,” Jindal told Fox News. “And I’ll say again on air: I’m not going to be the vice presidential nominee.”

We guess John's not getting the pick of the litter.

McCain Thinks "Rape" Funny Ha-Ha

A joke John McCain made to a reporter in 1986 is coming back to haunt him. Recently, when his spokesperson was asked about this incident, they said:

"He's long said that he's said and done things in the past that he regrets," Rogers said. "You've just got to move on and be yourself -- that's what people want. They want somebody who's authentic, and this kind of stuff is a good example of McCain being McCain."

Here's McCain's infamous joke:

Did you hear the one about the woman who is attacked on the street by a gorilla, beaten senseless, raped repeatedly and left to die? When she finally regains consciousness and tries to speak, her doctor leans over to hear her sigh contently and to feebly ask, "Where is that marvelous ape?"

More here from the Huffington Post.

Meghan McCain "Blogette Music Playlist"

Says my friend Jeremy: "Meghan Mccain, about whom people could say bad things, likes her music on the indie/cutting-edgish side. Pertinent information!" It's true, sometimes.

Top McCain aide Phil Gramm thinks you should stop whining because you're not getting a cookie

(Does this mean the IRS will start handing out mental health breaks?)

In an interview with the Washington Times, Phil Gramm, a former Texas senator who is now vice chairman of UBS, the giant Swiss bank, said he expects Mr. McCain to inherit a sluggish economy if he wins the presidency, weighed down above all by the conviction of many Americans that economic conditions are the worst in two or three decades and that America is in decline.

"You've heard of mental depression; this is a mental recession," he said, noting that growth has held up at about 1 percent despite all the publicity over losing jobs to India, China, illegal immigration, housing and credit problems and record oil prices. "We may have a recession; we haven't had one yet."

"We have sort of become a nation of whiners," he said. "You just hear this constant whining, complaining about a loss of competitiveness, America in decline" despite a major export boom that is the primary reason that growth continues in the economy, he said.

[Washington Post]

Now that's some awkward Schmidt!

Mr. Schmidt's elevation is the latest sign of increasing influence of veterans of Mr. Rove's campaign efforts in the McCain operation. Nicolle Wallace, who was communications director for Mr. Bush in the 2004 campaign and in his White House, has joined the campaign as a senior adviser, and will travel with Mr. McCain every other week. Greg Jenkins, another veteran of Mr. Rove's operation, has joined the McCain communications operation.
[Adam Nagourney for the NYT]

Just sayin'.

Take a Stroll Down Neocon Lane

GRRRRR

Unfortunately, we must face the facts. John McCain is a Neocon. For those of you not in 'the know', that's neoconservative.

Reuters: "John McCain is almost a wholly owned subsidiary of the neoconservative movement when it comes to foreign policy," Carpenter said.

A "neocon" is more inclined than other conservatives to support vigorous government advocacy of morality and interventionist foreign policy. Neoconservatives such as former Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz were key architects of the Iraq war and Bush's doctrine of military pre-emption.

Air Bud: Divorce Attorney [Feel Like McCain Love]

The L.A. Times has all the gory details on the dissolution of John McCain's first marriage: how it soured his friendship with the Reagan family (Nancy especially); how his public statements on it have not always matched the court record; and how his POW cellmate and former-"Swift Boat Veteran for Truth" Bud Day represented him as the attorney suing for divorce.

More Offensively Hawkish Humor From The Candidate

So, a fun experiment—while this blog is still on the topic of McCain's "Free Ride" with the press—might be to find out how much coverage there is of this gaffe, wherein our beloved presumptive nom suggests that exporting cigarettes would be "a good way to kill Iranians."



So far the coverage = not much.

Like the "Bomb, Iran" Beach Boys parody McCain sung a while back at a town hall meeting, this is pretty much (IMHO) the most tasteless and inexcusable thing I can imagine a candidate saying.

Look! He's McCain A Joke!

[Headline Note: At a team meeting today, we seem to have decided that this blog will suffer from a deluge of McCain/Making puns.]

So, when I think about John McCain's reputation as being cozy with the media (whom he has jokingly referred to as his base), I often also think about him doing funny things like these appearances on Conan's "Secrets" segment. I went through the effort of pulling these off Hulu instead of the other grainier options (because this is a classy outfit around here):

Raining McCain [News Briefs]

• Kind of obnoxiously sexist Times UK headline delves into how Carly Fiorina, the former Hewlett Packard CEO, is fast becoming an effective "cheerleader" for McCain—and wooing away (former/diehard/ladytown) Hillary Clinton supporters.
  
• Did McCain rough up a Sandinista? And if he did, won't that just make him more popular with red state hawks?
• More great stuff from tpm: 1.) Two lazy AP journalists, Steven Hurst and Jennifer Loven, have written nearly identical "analysis" articles on Obama's run to the center, both likely based on McCain/RNC camp research; 2.) a breakdown of McCain's retinue of lobbyist-campaigners, -employees, -friends, -handlers, etc.; and 3.) a new-ish McCain Ad attacks Obama on the Hispanic vote front.

McCain now charging extra (much extra) for patriotic flair

Last week in California, Kelly and Duane Roberts hosted a fundraiser luncheon honoring McCain at the Riverside Convention Center. According to the invitation, the cost was $1,000 per person or $2,300 to include a McCain lapel pin. [picked up by The Swamp, which also links to the original invite]

McCain Takes Money From Swift-Boat Backers

"USA Today points out this morning that John McCain has had no problem accepting $70,000 in donations this cycle from backers of the Swift Boat Veterans For Truth in 2004, despite his condemnation of the group at the time." [verbatim from tpm election central]