Rachel Maddow Smacks Down John McCain, ‘You need to know what you’re talking about’...

[Indi Guy]

Source: Politics USA

Rachel Maddow smacked down the defacto foreign policy leader of the Republican Party, Republican Senator John McCain, for being both wrong and incompetent on foreign policy...

...Noting that the Republican Party still hasn’t admitted they got Iraq wrong, and that they ran Mitt Romney who has zero foreign policy experience, Rachel Maddow sees Republicans as allowing McCain to be their voice for foreign policy. This is a problem for the country since he is so often completely wrong on the subject.

After playing a Chris Hayes montage of McCain getting it wrong repeatedly entitled “Arm the Rebels”, Maddow delivered the final blow:

...“There is a basic level of interest and competence required even of the opposition party on the subject, even if the country has decided they don’t want to put you back in the White House, not after what George W Bush did with it. Even if you’re just in congress, even if you’re just the opposition, you need to know what you’re talking about. You need to have a basic level of competence. And doing what John McCain says is not a reasonable substitution for basic competence on this subject.”

Read more: http://www.politicususa.com/rachel-maddow-smacks-john-mccain-you-youre-talking-about.html

[Overseas]

1. K&R. She made good points.

[SCVDem]

2. For the holidays

What I want is for any right wing tool to take her on and say she lies. I want them to try their bullshit talking points or to defend the indefensible.

Now THAT would be fun!

[Archae]

12. One already did.

That rock musician/preacher Bradlee Dean.

He sued Rachel and he and his lawyer Larry Klayman were laughed out of court and now Dean has to pay Rachel's court costs of $24,000.

[dmr]

19. Republicans are affraid of her.

From the beginning she had trouble getting Republicans on her show,

The few that have appeared, she held their feet to the fire.

Each one tried to change the discussion, or lie further, and like a hound dog, she forced the subject at hand.

A marvel to watch.

I imagine McCain had a temper tantrum last night.

[lunatica]

45. I've noticed no one mentions her name at all anymore

Whenever they try to take her on it's from a distance and they soon shut up. She just tells them the truth liberally backed up with facts and they act like she doesn't exist because they can't fight her anywhere on the air. I haven't heard of even Limbaugh taking her on.

Palin did it a few years back, but no more.

[DemoTex]

3. The McCain/Graham tag-team ..

The McCain/Graham tag-team is an embarrassment to most people (including some GOPers I know).
Rachel, as usual, is spot-on!

[Indi Guy]

50. Even Graham seems to be distancing himself from McCain now.

It is sad. McCain used to seem like a real person -- not not inclined toward mindless ideology.

[67_569]

51. McCain never lived up to his hype

McCain was LAST in his class at The Naval Academy. The only reason McCain graduated and commissioned was because his Grandfather and Father were Admirals in the U.S. Navy. McCain managed to crash 5 airplanes. That is how he was captured by the VietCong and spent several years in the Hanoi Hilton.

[kooljerk666]

53. HE WAS NOT LAST..........

At navy Academy he finished 894th out of 899, so there were 5 count'em 5 people dumber than him.

And he only crashed 2 air craft, one into the ocean & 1 into powerlines in Spain.

He really ain't that bright & after 1 crash, now a days if it was your fault you lose your wings.

[hrmjustin]

57. Welcome to DU!

[mountain grammy]

4. McCain's brief moments of sanity are becoming more and more infrequent

I'm trying to remember the last one...

[reusrename]

15. His concession speech when he lost to Obama.

He showed a lot of class with that, possibly the best concession ever.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/04/us/politics/04text-mccain.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

[pscot]

16. Tis the infirmity of his age

And yet, he hath ever but slenderly known himself.

[Indi Guy]

17. Then must we look from his age...

...to receive not alone the imperfections of long-engrafted condition, but therewithal the unruly waywardness that infirm and choleric years bring with them.

[reusrename]

18. True that.

"I don't see why a good teacher should be paid less money than a bad senator." - John McCain



I'm going to get weepy if I stay this course.

[pscot]

31. Try to see the humor

It's the only way to stay sane.

[reusrename]

32. Thanks. I know your right, but the irony's too much.

He's the worst senator left now.

[pscot]

36. Not while James Inhoff

is still infesting that august body.

[reusrename]

38. It is an impossibly high bar, isn't it?

How do they all manage to stay so competetive?

[Indi Guy]

39. Where does Mitch McConnell fit in...

...on your scale of worsts?

[kooljerk666]

54. Not the worst.............

Both guys from OK suck & so do both from Wyoming & Toomey & Lindsey Grahm & christ the Gophers have a lot of tools.

McCain may be a loud mouth & dumb & vindictive but compared to the aforemetioned tools he looks like a genius, Wiley Coyote super genius that is.

[oberliner]

55. Definitely not true

There are far worse.

[lunatica]

46. Public figures his age do one of two things

They grow old with dignity and become wise Statesmen who are willing to share their experiences for the betterment of the country and the youth or they grow bitter and cranky and tell everyone to get off their fucking lawn. It's easy to tell them apart.

[Indi Guy]

20. Well, it looks like very few of his colleagues...

...are following as he wanders off the reservation this time.

[cntrfthrs]

21. whats good for the goose.....

since parts of this thread allude to covert and overt racism...lets make sure everyone (yes, even democrats) knows what racist code words and phrases are...and your phrase of ...'wandering off the reservation' is as racist to native people as anything mccain/graham have said. did you know indians who wished to leave the reservation to visit relatives, trade, etc weren't allowed to leave unless the 'little white father' (gov agent) gave them a pass to leave??? I guess they wanted to make sure that anyone who left was a good indian who wouldn't steal cattle, kill good white folk and so forth. everyone remember....'concentration camp'???

[libdem4life]

22. This is a good reminder. I did not know that. Our racist past continues to haunt us in even the

most innocent and unintentional usage of cultural memes.

[coalition_unwilling]

24. When Bill Clinton in 1992 said that slavery was America's "original sin," I gave

him props for alluding to our Puritan past and for calling slavery a "sin" by using a theological metaphor. But the real "original sin" was the land theft our European ancestors perpetrated upon the indigenous peoples who were already here. As we prepare to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday, I think it is fitting that we discuss this.

[libdem4life]

26. Truly, as it illustrated the willingness to share, yea to sustain in many cases, but the Western

European Conquerer resided in the DNA of even those who fled the spiritual oppression of the Conquerers.

[Dont call me Shirley]

28. The genocide of the Original Peoples was America's biggest sin

[Indi Guy]

29. I stand corrected, and thank you.

I had a feeling I shouldn't have used that metaphor, and now I know why. It's amazing how we can say things that are pejorative out of simple ignorance.

That understood, I thought of saying that McCain wandered away from the nursing home with the back of his hospital gown unfastened; but I wasn't sure if I'd offend the elderly.

[goclark]

52. No offence given to this senior

THE VISUAL of that scene has tears of laughter streaming down my cheeks!

[heaven05]

33. excellent

yeah, original amerikkkan 'concentration camps'. Lot's of racism directed toward different peoples in different manners. Can't say amerika doesn't have ingenuity.

[lunatica]

47. Thanks for making that point on DU

It will be respected here.

Mostly because it is used in an innocently ignorant way.

Welcome to DU

[Auntie Bush]

5. Good for Rachael! You go girl!

Put that fat cheeked demented fool in his much deserved place. Hope he bones up on his foreign affairs and gets his head screwed on tight.

[samsingh]

6. Rachel makes excellent points in this.

[salinen]

7. "Bomb Bomb

Bomb, Bomb Bomb Iran." What an Idiot he is.

[ceeRoy]

8. ARM THE REBELS....LOL!!

It was hilarious if you didn't think again how his boiler plate concept about using that method is...the man's a lunatic!

[ancianita]

9. I love her command of context. She is the best teacher of politics and policy on television.

[pacalo]

27. I agree! In fact, that segment should be shown on the Senate floor to rebuke McCain's

foreign policy judgment.

[We People]

10. Megan McCain must be uncomfortable with this - 2 older white guys attacking

African-American woman.

So much for the desire for her party to stop the racism & misogyny.

And I guess there'll be a waiting period for her to re-appear as a guest on TRMS.

Edit to add:
As usual, Rachel hits it out of the park - excellent research/use of media clips, analysis, and delivery.

[Jim__]

11. Rachel cuts to the bone. McCain is incompetent.

[hughee99]

13. An excellent point that repukes nominated someone without foreign policy experience

A president needs to have significant foreign policy experience to be successful. If they wanted to nominate a Governor, they should have nominated one with the kind of in-depth foreign policy experience that Governor's Clinton & Carter had when coming into office.

On the other hand McCain has significant foreign policy experience, so he'd make a good presid.... wait, he has significant foreign policy experience and yet doesn't have a basic level of competence with regard to foreign affairs? I guess having "foreign policy experience" isn't worth as much as she thinks.

[Indi Guy]

35. I'm so tired of hearing how the GOP is supposed to be great at foreign policy...

...when Bush was a foreign policy nightmare. Likewise, I'm tired of hearing how Reps have a reputation of being "fiscally conservative", when Regan & Bush drove the deficit up to dizzying heights by giving the country over to the multinational (un-American) Wall St. jackals -- and passing it off as patriotism.

[hughee99]

41. I agree, I just don't think spending time on a Senate committee

automatically qualifies someone on foreign policy. We've had excellent presidents with NO experience, and poor presidents with significant experience. It really depends on who they surround themselves with.

[lunatica]

48. Being a die hard, kick ass war monger is sufficient foreign policy?

[beac]

14. K&R for a righteous smackdown of McBitter. n/t

[wildbilln864]

23. Rachel rocks the party! k & r! nt

[Uncle Joe]

25. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, Indi Guy.

[niyad]

30. k and r--thank you for smacking down that disgusting, lying pos.

[lindysalsagal]

34. This one's gonna leave a mark.

Ouch!

Love ya, Rachel!!!!

[carolo]

37. Unhinged again?

John McCain acts like he did during the banking crisis when he rushed to Washington to walk around the halls getting photo-ops. He attended no meetings and was not invited to any. He got his photo taken and talked to reporters. He tries to stay relevant but the more he tries, the more UN-relevant he becomes.

All this noise about Susan Rice because he didn't like her "talking point"? He is more concerned with that than with Rep Issa posting "secure" information on his webpage that including names of people helping us. He calls this highly intelligent woman "dumb" when she is very educated, very smart and held very good jobs for 20 years. John McCain, on the other hand, graduated from the Academy 4th from the last out of a class of over 830. Took no orders from commanding officers and crashed at least 4 planes (some reports are 5) being a jerk and a show off.

And to prove how smart he is, he picks Sarah Palin as his running mate.

John McCain, if anyone, should know what an investigation entails. After all, he was investigated himself for his part in Iran-Contra Affairs. He sat on the Advisory Board but when investigated, he claims he had retired from that position although no one else remembered him retiring from that job.

[Indi Guy]

42. Can you imagine the state of our country...

...if Obama hadn't beaten him in '08?

[bluesbassman]

43. Good points and welcome to DU carolo. I'll add McCain's involvement with Charles Keating.

Charles Keating and his Lincoln Savings and Loan were one of the main culprits in the S&L failure and scandal of the late 80's and early 90's. McCain was up to his neck in it, but the Senate Ethics committe chose to let him slide. Even the relatively mild rebuke he received caused McCain to question his own judgement. He has no room to question anyone elses.

McCain and Keating had become personal friends following their initial contacts in 1981, and McCain was the only one of the five with close social and personal ties to Keating. Like DeConcini, McCain considered Keating a constituent as he lived in Arizona. Between 1982 and 1987, McCain had received $112,000 in political contributions from Keating and his associates. In addition, McCain's wife Cindy McCain and her father Jim Hensley had invested $359,100 in the Fountain Square Project, a Keating shopping center, in April 1986, a year before McCain met with the regulators. McCain, his family, and their baby-sitter had made nine trips at Keating's expense, sometimes aboard Keating's jet; three of the trips were made during vacations to Keating's opulent Bahamas retreat at Cat Cay. McCain did not pay Keating (in the amount of $13,433) for some of the trips until years after they were taken, when he learned that Keating was in trouble over Lincoln. In 1989 Phoenix New Times writer Tom Fitzpatrick opined that McCain was the "most reprehensible" of the five senators.

~snip~

The Ethics Committee ruled that the involvement of McCain in the scheme was also minimal, and he too was cleared of all charges against him. McCain was criticized by the Committee for exercising "poor judgment" when he met with the federal regulators on Keating's behalf. The report also said that McCain's
"actions were not improper nor attended with gross negligence and did not reach the level of requiring institutional action against him....Senator McCain has violated no law of the United States or specific Rule of the United States Senate." On his Keating Five experience, McCain has said: "The appearance of it was wrong. It's a wrong appearance when a group of senators appear in a meeting with a group of regulators, because it conveys the impression of undue and improper influence. And it was the wrong thing to do."

Regardless of the level of their involvement, both senators were greatly affected by it. McCain would write in 2002 that attending the two April 1987 meetings was "the worst mistake of my life".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keating_Five

[humanistcafe]

40. Republicans and 'Basic Competence' ...

... have no place in the same sentence. Grandpa McStain degrades with age.

[Wernothelpless]

44. Here's the video for those who missed ...

[SCVDem]

49. WKRP

I watched the turkey episode yesterday and besides the funnier than hell ending, the set up to it was Mr. Carlson trying to feel important. He was the station manager and was totally kept out of the loop.

When he tried to help he made everyone mad.

John McCain has become Mr (Big Guy) Carlson. Rachel connected the dots of McCains ineptness.




booger!

[Stellar]

56. John McCain not only incompetant, he's been on...

'Meet the Press' twenty-two times in a year blowing B.S. out of his behind.

Besides that....anyone that put Palin on the ticket and a heartbeat away from the Presidency, should be made to retire immediately after his loss, and never to be heard from again.