May 01, 2008
“Highlight the torture and your brown daughter”Politics
Emperor Palpatine weighed in on the ‘08 race on Wednesday by giving “young” Jedi McCain some unsolicited advice from the bleachers. Rove said he thinks that the usually secretive McCain needs to open up a bit more about his private life if he wants the voting public to relate to him better. There were two specific areas of McCain’s private life that he thinks should be highlighted with increased enthusiasm:
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1999 picture. Which one of these is not like the others? |
“Private people like Mr. McCain are rare in politics for a reason,” Rove writes. “Candidates who are uncomfortable sharing their interior lives limit their appeal. But if Mr. McCain is to win the election this fall, he has to open up.”
Specifically, Rove says McCain should reveal more about his wartime heroics and days as a prisoner of war in Vietnam. He also says McCain should spend more time highlighting the fact he and his wife took in a sick Bangladeshi child in 1991, their adopted daughter Bridget. [Link]
Here is the meat without the fat: Rove thinks McCain should go into details about which “stress positions” were used on him during his seven year stint in a North Vietnamese prison because American voters like macho men (e.g., Jack Bauer), and he should show that he is a compassionate conservative by pointing out with greater frequency that he took in a young brown girl from the third world. This is the same brown girl who was at the center of a whisper campaign orchestrated by Rove
… in 1991 Cindy McCain was visiting Mother Teresa’s orphanage in Bangladesh when a dying infant was thrust into her hands. The orphanage could not provide the medical care needed to save her life, so Mrs. McCain brought the child home to America with her. She was met at the airport by her husband, who asked what all this was about.
Mrs. McCain replied that the child desperately needed surgery and years of rehabilitation. “I hope she can stay with us,” she told her husband. Mr. McCain agreed. Today that child is their teenage daughter Bridget.
I was aware of this story. What I did not know, and what I learned from Doris, is that there was a second infant Mrs. McCain brought back. She ended up being adopted by a young McCain aide and his wife.
“We were called at midnight by Cindy,” Wes Gullett remembers, and “five days later we met our new daughter Nicki at the L.A. airport wearing the only clothing Cindy could find on the trip back, a 7-Up T-shirt she bought in the Bangkok airport.” Today, Nicki is a high school sophomore. Mr. Gullett told me, “I never saw a hospital bill” for her care. [Link]
Yeah, I’ll bet Rove was “aware of this story.” Years later, Bridget, just like Kanye West, wondered why George W. Bush hated her. I call bullshit on the Emperor and his mis-use of The Force for his continued use of Bridget for poltical gain.
abhi on May 1, 2008 12:16 AM in Politics · T·r·a·c·k·b·a·c·k address · Direct link · Email post
I love how McCain has thrown Bridget under the straight talk express and aligned himself with the guy who visited the vitriol of an entire state upon her when she was all of 8 years old.
Yes Rahul, McCain is very Clintonian.
2 · Manju said
Are you implying that Fox calling for Clinton's impeachment was as morally despicable as Rove lying that McCain's dark adopted daughter was actually a black child he had fathered with a prostitute? If you think it was just politics, then I have to admire Hillary's magnanimity in reaching out to the other side of the aisle and building bridges. A true act of nobility even.
Isn't this obvious?
it would help mccain if the bengali girl were a bit more photogenic. It might sound cruel, but he'd do well to protect her right to privacy during the campaign. Plus you can always find some sort of adoption irregularity if you look hard enough.
3 · Rahul said
i was referring to Scaife, who believed Clinton fathered a child with a black prostitute. fox believed Clinton raped Juanita Broderick and commited perjury in the Paula Jones sexual harassment case, and as a feminist i tend to believe women who have no motive to lie...though i think the law should rely on proof beyond a reasonable doubt.
So, what is the moral equivalence between Rove's claims that made an innocent girl roadkill and Fox's statements? Either you believe they are morally equivalent, when you say McCain is Clintonian, or they are not, in which case what's wrong with Hillary talking to these folks?
7 · Rahul said
the moral equivalence is between rove's claims of a black child fathered by a prostitute and McCain, scaife claims of a black child fathered by a prostitute and Clinton.
The irregularity wasn't hard to find on this one. Cindy McCain was an alleged to have some problems...
Rahul and Manju, please get a
sexchat room and spare us the usual back and forth bickering. :)I feel like a "bubble person"/naif with respect to this Bridget issue--the claim that she's his "black love child" just seems so dumb to me that I wonder who would buy it (for starters, don't "love children" stay with the mother?!). . . . of course, the claim was made, with the obvious intent that it would work--and, perhaps, it did . . . whew, I'm staying in my bubble!!
4 · bridget jones said
brdget jones, change your handle to something like bridget moynahan you are taking my handle :)
1 · Rahul said
to be fair, i don't think that mccain has aligned himself with rove. i don't think the senator has asked him for advice, etc. mccain hates rove, and i'm saying this as a democrat.
peace to our girl Bridget McCain. She's a sweetheart, and I hope and pray that nobody ever dishonors her name.
8 · Manju said
One was an unverifiable smear the week before an election, the other was a verifiable allegation which was easily disproved by DNA sampling by some woman who decided to make some money off a political project Scaife was running - given Clinton's history, it is quite likely that Scaife believed the woman was right, because he had to know the claim would be verified. It is very clear that Bush and Rove decided that making the life of an innocent, relatively high-profile 8 year old hell was an acceptable price to pay for Bush's election.
Alright, that's my last comment in this edition of the spurious moral equivalence game.
I never liked the term brown... I never use it.
Noblekinsman,
I don't think there is any unphotogenic about the girl. What makes her unphotogenic?????
12 · boston_mahesh said
Not true (on the advice part). I have no idea whom he hates or doesn't.
Charles Graner for president!
What boggles my mind is that a partisan political strategist, the architect of Republican political
shit-smearingstrategy, is given a platform on mainstream media to impart his supposedly objective perspective. What a joke.5 · noblekinsman said
From my perspective, Bridget McCain is an angel, and is the most photogenic of the whole bunch. Am I the only one who thinks this?
Can angels be photographed? How many of them can dance on the head of a pinhole camera?
And we should be surprised by a typical Rove move because? The man is vile. Frankly, what makes McCain likeable is that he does not have the need to thrust his heroism and charitable instincts down our throats. Having said that, I liked McCain a whole heap more before the straight talk express turned into the flip-flop express. Perhaps he is incredibly forgiving but it is hard for me to respect a man who allowed Bush and his henchman to drag his 8 year old into this nastiness and then actually support (or pretend to support for political agenda) the same goons. I guess I'm just not a turn-the-other-cheek kinda gal.
the true injustice here is that he made his brown daughter wear granny shorts, while his bio daughter can wear shorts just short enough to make sunday school awkward. (and it's not due to illness--she either suffered from a severe cleft palate or heart problems before being adopted)
I had absolutely no idea that McCain had a bangladeshi daughter. wild.
It would help matters if Rove got his facts straight. Yes, Bridget is Bangladeshi, but Mother Theresa did not run any orphanages there. But the idea is to mention McCain and Mother Theresa in the same article, to gloss over the fact that McCain was never much of a church-goer through most of his life. If we are reminiscing about McCain, how about his use of the term "gook"? Can't go there - there's probably more Rev. Wright videos we have not seen.
I find it disturbing that there are random posters taking cheap shots at the daughter and her as a little girl in the picture. It's disgusting. Stop it. While this discussion may be about including or not including her in his public life actually making personal comments about her is shameful. Is this really necessary?
Indeed.
If I asked my kids the question posed in the caption "Which one of these is not like the others?" I'd hope at least one of them would say, "That's easy, Daddy! The boy on the right. He's the only one holding sports equipment."
Sure. But does she blog?
Is there anyone in America who doesn't? Even dogs are doing it.
24 · Janeofalltrades said
be more specific. Publicity photos are not candid--they don't capture a genuine family moment but one that is adjudged as best suited to the current political environment. The less Bridget looks like a part of the family (and not i'm not talking about skin but clothing, placement, etc.), the more disgusted and appalled I am. But I guess personal comments are worse.
>>It would help matters if Rove got his facts straight.
Facts? That's so old fashioned. Who cares about facts these days? It's all about perception - that's the in-thing.
The fact that Obama courted a racist, divisive loonie pastor for the last twenty years is irrelevant - only the perception that he will bring all Americans together matters.
The fact that Hillary failed to bring healthcare reform when she was given all the powers to do so fifteen years ago is irrelevant - only the perception that she will succeed now matters.
M. Nam
30 · MoorNam said
the fact that McCain allowed a millenarian fantasist with dreams of an irredentist and blood-stained future to court him doesn't matter either. Nor does his infidelity during his first marriage, friendship with sketch developers in AZ, 'innocent' involvement in the Keating scandal or his surprising ability to lambaste a 'agent of intolerance' one day and then embrace him the next. None of those matter.
31 · Nayagan said
To most people, they don't..bizarre, no? You and MoorNam are both on to something, in that it seems "Truth" matters far less than perception (carefully-engineered spectacles, ruthless marketing) in today's politics (maybe it's always been that way, but it seems more apparent to me now than ever). I'm surprised whenever I see people's endless fascination with Rev. Wright, or almost willful ignorance of McCain's past, but perhaps I shouldn't be.
What bullshit. There is nothing out of place about her clothing or placement! You are going to fixate on her damn shorts? Do you have any daughters? Do you know what body image is like for little girls that age nevermind how much they fuss over what they wear. Get a grip. It's a little girl in the picture. Why aren't you fixating on the geeky choice of clothes of the son in the middle? Even if it's not about the skin for you which I'm not convinced of for a moment get over the damn shorts.
>>I'm surprised whenever I see people's endless fascination with Rev. Wright,
Oh come on - we all know that if McCain was close to a pastor with similiar views, he would'nt even make it past the primaries.
Soft bigotry of lowered expectations?
M. Nam
your rite. he shud be close to a pastor with very different views.
34 · MoorNam said
Oh come on - we all know that if McCain was close to a pastor with similiar views, he would'nt even make it past the primaries.
Soft bigotry of lowered expectations?
M. Nam
I meant that the fascination with Wright seems to completely drown out any discussion of McCain's past, when both are definitely ripe with potential "scandals". For example, John Hagee, despite being an ignorant buffoon and far less reasonable than Wright, has gotten little to no coverage.
>>he shud be close to a pastor...
I think the American public can distinguish the difference between an endorsement during an election year and a twenty year close relationship.
M. Nam
33 · Janeofalltrades said
okay. but I get 10% of the profits from your outrage factory.
Given McCain's age and war hero past, I'm sure they're Old Navy.
37 · MoorNam said
i agree. it should be obvious to the american public what a cynical opportunist willing to cater to the lowest common denominator and whip up hatred the straight talker is.
He's got a nice looking family, hasn't he? McCain, I mean.
*It's nice not being sooo into politics this year due to the choices (or lack of choices. Really, a bunch of self-satified Senators is the best we can do? Well, politics is the art of the possible, and nothing more). All this political heat is sort of amusing when you are not caught up in it. My how people get angry and how their anger misleads them. It has really mislead me in the past and it makes me a bit ashamed, actually, to think about it. Goodness, imagine being a political blogger and UPSET ALL THE TIME!
**I wonder if Obama will take in some of what Rove said in that WSJ article giving advice to the Obama campaign? I doubt it - none of the final three seem at all self-reflective.
***McCain is very sure he knows what the 'good' is (McCain-Feingold), Hillary seems very sure she knows what the 'good' is (tax those oil profits!) and Obama seems very sure he knows what the 'good' is (any issue I don't care about is a distraction). Dear L-rd, save us from these, well, decent but highly self-regarding types. Humility. How I would love a leader with some humility, but, it's impossible to expect in someone who thinks he or she should run the world.
A lot of people who liked McCain before will not like him now that he is the Republican nominee, regardless of how he treats his daughter or communicates with Rove. If not this issue, something else will found to be disliked about him or his life, because his politics are not the correct (read: left) politics.
Same thing happens on the Right. Some of my righty types like Obama until they found out, horror-of-horrors, he is a plain old lefty. What once seemed novel and likeable, is now irritating. I, too, have succumbed to such emotion.....
*some of my fellow righty types liked*
"Emperor Palpatine......" lol......Abhi....you are one cool mofo! The beers on on me next time you're in Boulder!
Why does everyone hate Karl Rove? He is a great American who has served five presidents and our nation in turbulent times with the honor and decency so lacking in Clintonesqe democrats.
45 · abdul said
Well, Karl Rove led us into Iraq, said gave amnesty to illegals, and brought fanatic Christianity back to the U.S. Yep. That's why.
McCain's wife is a beauty.
There was absolutely no reason to post this picture and comment.
haha There is a picture on McCain's eldest daughter, Meghan's, blog that is captioned "While catching up with my friend from New York, Navarone, this random guy busted in on our picture." Well the random guy is none other than our very own Hustler. Still up to his same antics..
I forgave McCain when he gave a commencement address for an agent of intolerance.
I forgave McCain when he claimed to be a foe of lobbyists.
I forgave McCain when he walked in a flak jacket, surrounded by Iraqi army brigades and helicopters through an Iraqi market, and claimed parts of Baghdad were just fine.
I forgave McCain when he voted for torture.
I forgave McCain when he lied/misspoke that Shia Iran was in cahoots with Sunni Al-Qaeda.
I forgave McCain when he lied/misspoke again that Shia Iran was in cahoots in Sunni Al-Qaeda.
But now, he calls Tom Friedman an economist??? This, my friend (as McCain likes to say), is truly the last straw!
50 · Rahul said
All of this has me asking Sen. Mccain"say it ain't so". Between, Hill's Tuzla two-step and Obama's inability to conclude his oratorical fireworks without a crescendo has me wondering if it's just another election season where I'm choosing between the lesser of three evils.
As for Rove's advice, I doubt Mccain would follow it. He's been reluctant to speak about his son who served in Iraq or put his children out there. I think this is just one of Palpatine's Jedi mind tricks. Most adult males would discredit anyone who stoops so low to throw their kids out into the spotlight simply for their own gain. Palpatine probably wants Mccain to do it since he wants to make someone look worse than G dub right now. (I just don't see how that's possible where moderate repubs. no longer recognize their own party.)
At least us dems have been consistently self-destructive for a long time now, even when we should actually :-)
Not a novel notion, but the two-party system combined with an executive form of government leads to a disastrous paucity of views in the public sphere, and forces people like you who broadly identify as socially moderate (or liberal?) and fiscally conservative (I am assuming) to make the best of a bad combination.
McCain, his wife and his family are good role models. He and his wife saved the life of a child and is not making a big deal or seeking publicity for it. I think he is handling his presidential campaign very ethically and with dignity.
52 · Rahul said
That's accurate. If forced to put a name on it I'd say socially moderate (left on a couple of social issues mostly right on others and throw in a healthy dash of libertarian) and yes to the fiscal conservatism. I'd classify myself as a center-right dem who can identify with moderate repubs. I would also blame this primary system for creating a crucible where only two seemingly divergent views can exist. It forces alleged moderates or mavericks like Mccain to the right to placate or pander to a "base" and sends Obama and Clinton drifting farther and farther to the left. Part of me does wonder, however, whether having more than two established parties would bring a greater benefit. Would it end up like modern media where the multitude of voices screaming for attention prevent the development of any kind of consensus or at least a unifying idea to hold on to? At least with the party system as is, there is some filtering and prioritization of what the party thinks is good for the country rather than solely relying on what the special interests may want. I certainly wouldn't want a coalition gov't where the minority has the ability to prevent legislation that most of the country wants. (i.e. India nuclear deal).
I'm sure that the Mccain's charity and warm hearts resulted in Bridget growing up to be a wonderful person. Additionally, I greatly respect and admire Sen. Mccain for his service, his sacrifice and his courage. I'd just hope he were smart enough not to use that as the only reason why he might make a good president. This election cycle has so many important issues that are at the forefront that I don't think too many Americans are going to simply rest their heads on he or she seems like a good guy or gal. Maybe it's just a case of SM's new favorite phrase: a soft bigotry of lowered expectations. Rove's lowered expectation that all Americans will care or can care about this cycle is a war record and a warm heart or in the dem's case beer-drinking, bowling scores and whether someone's african-american or a woman. Mccain and all of the candidates have an obligation to do better than that, especially where a lot of moderates or independents aren't overly excited with any of the candidates.
23 · KXB said
Actually there is a Mother Theresa orphanage in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Some of us who consider ourselves conservative are happy to see the torch passed from the likes of Rove, Bush ,Cheney and Condi Rice to McCain. I sincerely hope that he does not pick Condi to be his running mate. Someone has to standup and say failure will not be rewarded. I hope the incompetence and corruption in this adminsitration will be brought back to the pre-Bush levels. I never considered myself a big Clinton supporter but i would be happy to go back to those days.
I find it funny that libertarians who happily supported this administration have a problem with McCain because of the campaign finance bill. They did not have problems with us meddling in Iraq. They did not have a problem when he signed a Medicare bill that is going to cost some 600 billion dollars and made his people lie for him about the true costs. No problems with gay marriage amendment for political gain. They draw a line at campaign finance reform.
Liberals have a problem because he is not consistent. Please. Foolish consistency is not going to win him any votes. He has to win and I think he will. Once elected, given his history and his ability to work across party lines he will be a good (a solid B) president.